What I Hate About You
by Dark Ambition
Summary: You've got Olette, who's too tempermental for her own good. You've got Roxas, who's an all-around problem himself. They meet up together after seven years away from each other. And they hate each other. Or do they? ››EDITED‹‹
1. Seven Years Later

**A/N – Edited 7/19/08. The title of this story was changed from ****Roxette**** to ****What I Hate About You****. This story is being completely remade. The writer was obviously very bored with her life. Warnings of AU and OOC. As always, the usual disclaimer applies.**

° ˚ • ◊ • ˚ °

Roxas x Olette

**C **h **a** p **t** e **r** O **n** e

**Seven**Years**Later**

"Mmm! What a perfect day!" Olette exclaimed to herself as she smiled, stretching all the while. She stood in front of her high school, the building pressed against the azure sky. Today was the day that her sophomore year began. Her brown hair blew in the light breeze that passed over the school campus. It was a warm, peaceful day in Twilight Town. The sun was beating down on the tiny town and the sun kissed girl. Olette unwrinkled the blue and white plaid skirt that was part of her school uniform. Her emerald colored eyes scanned the grounds for familiar faces, two in particular. She couldn't remember when was the last time she saw Hayner and Pence. As annoying as the two could have been, she missed them terribly. It had been a _long_ summer vacation.

"Olette!" a voice called out from behind her. Olette glanced over her shoulder only to see another friend of hers, Kairi, running right towards her. The sight of the girl caused Olette to beam.

"Hi, Kairi!"

"Hey, Olette," the redhead replied through a gasp, slowing down in front of the brunette. "Did you by any chance see Sora or Riku?" She tucked a strand of her red hair behind her ear, a habit of hers.

"Mm hm. I think I saw Sora go inside," Olette answered. She gestured towards the large building with a jab of her thumb. Kairi nodded and dashed inside, leaving Olette alone once more. "Uh… hey! Wait up!"

Olette chased after her. She hurried into the school and continued down a narrow hall. She heard her loud footsteps echo against the linoleum floor. The young high school student had to shove and force her way through the sea of teenagers crowding up the hallways. Quickly looking around, she realized she had lost Kairi. And unless she wanted to spend several more minutes looking for her, the only other way to go was towards her own locker. Shrugging, Olette turned on her heels and headed down the other end of the hall to her locker. It was there that Olette saw her two friends hanging out, obviously waiting for her. They looked up when they sensed her presence. Instantly, their faces erupted into smiles.

"Hey, Olette! Over here!" the taller of the two called, waving his hand around in the air frantically. Olette grinned and shuffled up to them through the swarm of high schoolers.

"Hayner! Pence! How was your break?" she asked with her usual cheery tone.

Hayner was taller than both Olette and Pence, and was leaning against the lockers comfortably. He ran his hand through his dirty blond hair, slicked back from all the gel he used. Like Olette, he had a slight tan from spending so much time outside. He was easy to tell apart from Pence because of his body structure: Tall and lanky. There was a hint of amusement dancing about in his brown eyes as he looked down at Olette to answer her previous question.

"Can you say 'boring as hell'?" he sighed, slicking his hair back with his hand again.

"I spent my whole vacation working," Pence replied as he rolled his eyes. He was the chubbiest among the three, and seemed to have a rather strange obsession with cameras. The dark brunet's chocolate brown eyes looked tired, as if he didn't get enough sleep the night before. He yawned and stretched, the sunlight creeping into the school accentuating his lightly colored skin.

Olette giggled while trying to muffle it the best she could with her hand. "You poor things."

"You spent yours with your rich aunt on Destiny Islands, didn't you?" Hayner asked as he rummaged through his locker. Olette couldn't help but notice the slight smug jealousy hinted in his voice.

"She's not rich. She's just…" Olette tried to come up with the end of the sentence. However, her voice trailed off when she was unsuccessful.

"Wealthy, prosperous, affluent, loaded," Hayner listed, obviously being sarcastic. "Take your pick."

"I'll use affluent," the girl joked as she began to look through her locker for the necessary materials.

"Well, whatever," Pence spoke up while flinging his backpack over his shoulder. "Your vacation sounds like it was better than ours were."

"Do we have the same homeroom teacher?" Hayner inquired, changing the subject completely.

Olette pulled out her schedule, smiling widely and waving it slightly at him. Pence pulled his schedule out of his pocket and unfolded it. The three friends formed a tiny circle among themselves and held out their schedules for one another to see. All three of them glimpsed down at each other's schedules simultaneously.

"Squall Leonhart," they said in unison. Their tones were deadpanned, unsure as to whom exactly this teacher was.

"Sucks for you guys," someone interjected into their conversation, her tone of voice dripping with playful teasing. Olette glanced up from her schedule and looked at the newcomer. Standing before her was her friend, a girl who was in her junior year of high school. This junior had short black hair and eyes that were a mix between crimson and brown. The girl was several inches taller than Olette, but much more stronger than her. This was so because of the many sports she participated in. She needed a way to get rid of all her extra energy, after all.

"Yuffie! Hi!" Olette greeted, smiling for the junior.

"Hey, Olette," Yuffie Kisaragi returned the greeting, playfully punching Olette in the shoulder. She snuck a glance at the brunette's schedule. That was when a snicker escaped her. "I'm a close friend of Squall, who for some reason prefers Leon. And he's not exactly the most pleasant person on Earth."

"And we have him for homeroom," Pence grumbled. He hung his head in despair.

"At least you don't have Seifer in half of your classes," Yuffie hissed as a look of disgust made its way onto her face.

"But luckily for you, Yuffie, you aren't the one he's in love with," Hayner snickered as he placed his hand on Olette's shoulder. She shrugged it off, her once cheery face suddenly replaced with an expression of odium.

"Shut up, Hayner," Olette mumbled irritatingly.

"Speak of the devil," Pence said. He pointed somewhere behind Olette.

There came Seifer Almasy, strutting down the hall as all the girls ogled at him and all his blond-haired, blue-eyed glory. And right behind him were his lackeys, Rai and Fuu. Seifer was a junior who was considered one of the most popular guys in their high school. The reason was an enigma to Olette. Sure, one would consider him attractive, maybe if one were into jocks or something like that. Of course, Seifer was blond with blue eyes, but he was also ivory toned and built with defined muscles. Something he liked to show off and brag about. He acted like he was gangster. But he was nothing more than an idiotic wankster to Olette. And the worst thing was, he seemed to be freakishly obsessed with her. He would keep bugging her, telling her how much he was in love with her, and would keep trying to get Olette to fall in love with him. It was starting to get on her last nerve.

"Quick! Hide me!" Olette whispered as she tried to stuff herself into her locker. Yuffie shook her head in revulsion, the sight quite a pathetic one. Olette's antics made her two other friends laugh and snicker. Fortunate enough for her, the bell had rung before Seifer noticed Olette standing in the same hallway as him.

"Hurry! Let's get to class!" Pence urged, pushing against both his friends' backs.

"See you at lunch, Yuffie!" Olette fare welled while waving over her shoulder at the ebony-haired junior.

"Bye," Yuffie replied as she walked off.

"The beginning of a new year," Hayner breathed dramatically as the three of them made their way through the crowd of Dusk High School students.

° ˚ • ◊ • ˚ °

"Welcome to your second year of high school," the teacher began with a low, dangerous tone.

His head was hung low, his fingers intertwined together behind his back. He paced slowly back and forth at the front of the class, like a restless lion stuck in a cage. If one looked close enough, they could almost see the malicious aura wafting off him. His trudging was loud as he continued with his unhurried pacing. The once peaceful atmosphere of the classroom was suddenly sucked out of the room, only to be replaced by a frightening sensation. A sensation each and every one of the students was feeling.

Most of them, anyway.

_He seems nice,_ Olette thought, all smiles.

Others had different thoughts of their own.

_He looks like he's ready to kill us,_ Pence panicked as he cringed.

_Who is that fine looking chick in the front row?_ Hayner contemplated as he began to gaze inappropriately at a girl in the front row. Olette looked over as she noticed this. She then did what any good friend would have done. She kicked him in the shin.

"OW!" The kick delivered to his shin caused Hayner to jump slightly, and this instigated a rather loud cacophony of random noises and bangs.

"Quiet in the back!" Mr. Leonhart snapped. His tone of voice went good with his intimidating appearance. The man was pale, almost in a sickly manner. He had brown hair, long enough that it reached past his shoulders. There was a noticeable scar across his face that he probably got in a brawl. His dark brown eyes were intimidating, almost lifeless. For a teacher, he wasn't that bad looking with his well-sculpted figure and obvious muscles. The man loomed over the class, well beyond six feet tall. He wore an attire teachers never wore, his clothes consisting mostly of black. Olette knew that they would never see this teacher in a suit. Ever.

He had stopped his pacing momentarily, long enough to whip his head up and send Hayner a dark look all the way at the back of the class. Olette was only glad looks couldn't kill. If they could, their homeroom teacher would have glared Hayner dead. Their teacher's look was so powerful, it had caused Hayner to freeze solid and lose some color in his face.

"As your teacher, people expect you to call me Mr. Leonhart," their teacher continued. The students fidgeted in their seats when his leisurely pacing resumed. "But that's much too formal for me. So from now on, you all _will _call me Leon."

"But that's weird, calling a teacher by their first name. And why does your first name sound like your last name?" Hayner spoke up suddenly without thinking. Leon looked over at Hayner, only to give the boy another dirty glare. Olette could have sworn it was darker than his previous glare.

"Hey, whatever you say Mister – er, I mean Leon," Hayner tittered as he tried to recover for his stupid remark. Olette couldn't help but giggle. Her friend shot her a glare.

_I think I'm going to like this teacher,_ Olette laughed in thought. But she was mostly laughing at Hayner's misery.

_I was right about him_, Pence thought, glancing around anxiously.

_Oh, my God! He's going to kill me!_ Hayner screamed in his head as he began to fear for his life.

As if not learning from what had just taken place in the class, Pence muttered as quietly as he could under his breath, "I thought his first name was Squall."

Leon must have had super hearing, because as soon as Pence breathed that sentence the teacher turned his glare from Hayner over to him. The dark brunet noticed the gaze landing on him and had to force a grin for the teacher. The glare, Pence couldn't help but notice, made it feel like he was slowly and painfully dying away. And it was not a comfortable feeling.

Leon went on with his lecture, after he was satisfied with his results. "If you think you can all goof off like you did in your freshman year, you're wrong." He cast a glower over the whole class. The sound of frantic, thumping heartbeats could be heard. "This year, teachers will be tougher on you than before. And me…" He turned to the class and smirked, something that sent chills up the students' spines. Olette heard half of the class gulp. "I'll be ungodly," he finished.

"Save us, baby Jesus," Hayner whispered. Olette took notice of Hayner's plea, which caused her to smile even more. The teacher's eyes flickered over to a poor, unsuspecting soul. Leon slowly sauntered past where Kairi was sitting and up to the desk of a boy by the name of Tidus, who was unfortunately sitting in the front row. Tidus was wearing his sunglasses in the classroom, a horrible mistake on his part.

Their homeroom teacher crouched down so as to get right in Tidus' face. "Do you know the rules of my class?" Leon asked in a low voice. Even if it wasn't them, the class could practically feel the spiteful tone in the teacher's voice.

"Um… not yet…" Tidus answered as he fidgeted where he sat. Leon slammed the palm of his hand on the desk, causing the boy to jump. The sound of the slam echoed throughout the entire classroom. It also caused the whole class to flinch where they sat.

"No sunglasses in my class," Leon warned. Taking the hint, Tidus slowly removed his sunglasses. Olette saw out of the peripheral of her vision Hayner uneasily digging his fingernails into his desk.

"Now, take out your student handbooks and turn to page twenty-three," Leon demanded calmly. He started pacing, ever so slowly. The students watched him cautiously as they took out their necessary books. Tidus trembled slightly in his seat. That was most likely the last time he ever wore sunglasses.

"We're going to die! I just know we're going to die!" Hayner whispered with his fretful tone, turning to Olette. His eyes shifted about as he returned to his panicky state.

"Shush!" Olette hissed.

"No talking!" Leon barked from the front of the classroom.

"It doesn't help that he's also our history teacher," Pence mumbled, trying to get a word in to Olette and Hayner without getting caught by Leon. Hayner refused to say a word for the rest of homeroom. And most likely the rest of his future history class.

° ˚ • ◊ • ˚ °

"I'm starving!" Selphie Tilmitt exclaimed as she bit off a huge piece of her pizza.

It was currently lunchtime. As usual, the Dusk High School cafeteria was crowded as the students fought and battled their way through the lunch line just to get their hands on some school food. Olette had decided to sit with her female friends today. Hayner and Pence didn't mind; they went and sat with Sora and Riku. Besides, she felt she needed some female company anyway. She had spent most of her day with Hayner and Pence. And so far, they were starting to drive her crazy. Something she had gotten used to a long, long time ago. Sitting at the table with Olette was Selphie, Kairi, and Yuffie. The four munched away peacefully at their lunches when Selphie had decided it was time to start conversation among the four.

"So, how have your classes gone so far?" Kairi asked through a sub sandwich.

"I liked them all so far," Selphie chimed happily. Her cheery face suddenly fell, turning blank. "Except my fourth period history class, which I have with Mr. Leonhart. Um… I mean Leon. He kind of scared me." She swallowed her pizza. Olette remembered the events that took place that morning and began laughing and choking on her food simultaneously. Her three friends looked at her strangely.

"That's Leon for you," Yuffie sighed. She placed her arm on the table and rested her head in her hand. Hearing this hardly surprised her. Leon had quite the reputation in that school for being… frightening was probably the correct word.

"So, how are you and Sora doing?" Olette asked with a mischievous smile. Yuffie and Selphie quickly caught on to her tone as she wiggled her eyebrows in Kairi's direction.

"Good." Kairi blinked for a moment, setting down her sub sandwich. "Wait, what's that supposed to mean?"

The other girls all rolled their eyes. Two of them even exasperated loudly. Sora and Kairi were considered one of the most popular couples in their school even though they weren't going out at all. Surprisingly enough, Kairi and Sora had no idea that half the school felt that way. At times, they were quite the oblivious ones. But alas, the two were merely no more than friends. Friends that Olette thought were in complete denial.

"Uh oh, Olette…" Kairi whispered as her eyes landed on something behind the brunette. The redhead's late warning didn't give enough time for her green-eyed friend to hide or make a run for it. Olette's eyes widened in horror as she heard an annoyingly familiar voice call from across the cafeteria with a sickeningly sweet tone,

"Yo! Olette, my one true love!"

_Crap._

Seifer shoved and pushed his way across the cafeteria followed by his cronies, Rai and Fuu. Olette quickly tightened her fingers around a plastic fork, just in case she would need to use it for self-defense. He slid beside Olette, purposely getting uncomfortably close to her. Most of girls in the cafeteria glared at Olette and began whispering to each other. She would have gladly given him to anyone of them. But the junior was like a leech and wouldn't leave Olette's side until she forced him.

"Seifer…" Olette said slowly, trying extremely hard to be polite. She refused to let go of her fork, though.

"How's my one and only lady?" Seifer asked as he wrapped his arm around her shoulders. He failed to notice the fork in her hand. The little scene caused Selphie to snicker to herself, Kairi to shake her head in disgust, and Yuffie to grab for a fork of her own.

"I'm not your property."

"Aww. You're disgruntled today," Seifer cooed. He began stretching out Olette's right cheek. She narrowed her eyes threateningly when he began doing so. Selphie wouldn't stop snickering, and Olette was deciding to use the fork on her instead.

"Wow, he knows a big word like disgruntled," Kairi made fun of in a whispered tone as she leaned over towards Yuffie. The insult caused her to snigger.

"Seifer, get lost! Your stupidity is unwanted here!" Yuffie ordered. It annoyed her almost as much as Olette on how he thought harassing her was perfectly fine.

Seifer glared at Yuffie, but then returned his attention to Olette with a toothy grin on his ivory face. "I'll see you later when you're not with these losers." He tried to give Olette a kiss on the cheek. However, Olette held up her hand to her cheek and prevented this from happening. Seifer quickly pulled back, obviously alarmed by her reaction.

"If you try to kiss me again, I'll rip your lips off your face," Olette warned with a sardonic smile. Seifer just shrugged before leaving the table. He melted into the mass of high school students with Fuu and Rai following after him obediently.

Olette sighed loudly, her breath hissing between her teeth and lips. She then prompted to quickly slamming her head on the table and resting it there. The fifteen year old had been hoping to make it through one day without having to deal with Seifer and his licentious behavior. Apparently, today was not that day. She could feel her three friends' gazes glued to her in silent curiosity.

"You know Olette, even though Seifer is a moron you should just go out with him. After all, he is one of the most popular people in this school," Selphie suggested. Olette responded to the lighter brunette's suggestion, but her voice was muffled by the table. Selphie wouldn't have wanted to hear what Olette had to say anyway, seeing as how it had been slightly insulting. So instead, Kairi replied for her.

"You know Olette won't. She's waiting for Mr. Right," Kairi sighed, as if the dream was childish. In a way, it really was. Olette failed to realize that, however.

"The girl's not willing to settle for a setting sun. She wants the whole enchilada," Yuffie cut in with her strange metaphor.

_What does an enchilada have to do with a sunset?_ Olette asked herself with a puzzled look on her face.

"Good luck trying to find the perfect boy," Selphie scoffed. But even she had to admit Seifer was far from perfect.

Olette only smiled, not even the least bothered by her friends' doubts. Her friends were right about her, though. She wasn't willing to settle for just anybody. Even if they had good looks and popularity to boot. She knew that love in high school was overrated. Which was why she was waiting for the right person to come along. She was one of those girls who wanted the _perfect_ boyfriend. Selphie was on to something, unfortunately. Finding the perfect boy was easier said than done. And Olette knew that better than anyone else. Olette's friends had gone through many relationships. She herself had gone through none. Zero. Zip. Nada. Nothing. Despite this, she still waited patiently for her perfect boy rather than rushing into something. She wasn't about to let this bring her spirits down.

The bell had rung, which snapped Olette back to reality. The three other girls were already trying to clean up their table. She threw away her lunch, bid her friends farewell, and headed off towards her next class.

° ˚ • ◊ • ˚ °

Olette strolled down the stairs outside her school at the end of the day. The rest of the students hurried past her, shouting their last goodbyes for the day or trying to catch up to their friends so as to walk home together. The sun was high in the sky by that point, beating its heat down on the town. She shielded her eyes and looked up momentarily. The sky had changed from blue to a light orange color. It was starting to get to be that time of the day. Olette quickly snapped out of her trance when Pence jumped down the stairs and landed perfectly next to her.

She placed one hand on her hip. "Very impressive," Olette joked.

"Hey, you two! Wait up!" Hayner yelled from somewhere behind them. The dirty blond shoved his way through a swarm of freshman. He ran down the stairs but tripped on his way down. He broke his fall by landing on top of Pence and tackling him to the concrete. Olette broke into a fit of laughter. A couple of immature seniors did a catcall at Hayner and Pence as they walked past the sight.

"Bunch of dumbasses," Hayner murmured as he staggered up off his friend. He brushed the dust off his pants, part of the boys' required school uniform.

"So, how was your first day?" Olette asked, helping Pence back on to his feet. The three began their walk home, turning around the curb and making their way down the sidewalk.

"Eh, it was okay I guess," Pence answered. He folded his arms behind his head in a relaxed manner.

"It was awesome!" Hayner exclaimed. Olette immediately recognized that perverted glint in his eye. "I swear there are at least three hot girls in every single one of my classes." Hayner gave Olette a side-glance, giving her a leer at the same time. "Of course you're not one of them, Olette," he teased.

She suddenly kicked him as hard as she could in the back, sending him to fly forward and land face first on the concrete. This little attack caught him completely off guard, and Hayner remained lying on the ground in a confused state. A footprint was noticeable on the spot where he had been kicked. Hayner looked up to see Olette looming over him, a positively angry expression plastered on her face.

"I hope Leon does kill you!" she shouted at him. He winced at the volume of her voice. Olette quickly ran off down the sidewalk, now in a huffy mood. She left Pence and Hayner behind, the dirty blond still lying on the concrete. The two watched as Olette's retreating figure disappeared over the horizon.

"Oh, Hayner. Oh, stupid, stupid Hayner," Pence sighed as he shook his head.

The brunette made her way to the larger part of Twilight Town. The streets were bustling with people, some rushing to and from work. With the day nearing to an end, many people were trying to get home as fast as possible. The sounds of cars zipping up and down the streets and people chatting away on cell phones filled the air all around the green-eyed brunette. A couple of times someone ran into Olette, but continued on their way without so much as apologizing, telling her to "Watch it," as they did so. She had been so angry, Olette took a wrong turn and instead of heading home went deeper into the heart of Twilight Town. Olette walked through the town, trying to calm down. She pushed her way through the crowd, going against the flow of the multitude. Hayner always made jokes about how she was unattractive. And every single one of them pissed her off. She didn't verbally admit it, but when it came to joking around about her appearance she was sensitive.

"Stupid Hayner," she mumbled under her breath with her brows furrowed together in frustration. "I hope he burns in hell, and then…" Olette went on with her cursing.

She stormed past a mother and young child while swearing rather loudly. The mother quickly covered up her child's ears and gave Olette a disapproving look. She failed to notice the glare. Instead, she continued on her way, cursing and stomping around the curb. Olette was no longer paying attention, but concentrating on the many curses she was placing on Hayner. Her lack of focus caused her to walk straight into people and walk across the streets even when the lights signaled not to cross. She had crossed the streets several times when it wasn't permitted. Behind her, people were shouting at her to pay attention so as to not get run over by a car or die some other horrible death. However, Olette didn't hear a single word they were shouting and went on with her infuriated fit.

"Hmph! What does Hayner know anyway?" Olette asked out loud. She had stopped right in the middle of the street to stomp her foot. She held her arms straight at her sides, her fingers curled up into fists. There was a pout on her face as she took the time to curse more at Hayner rather than hurry across the street. "I mean he's just as stupid as—"

Her ramblings were interrupted by a sudden, horrifying noise.

**BEEEEEEEEP!**

A car was honking its horn loudly at Olette, warning her about its oncoming approach. She snapped her head up in time to see she was about to get run down by it. Olette was frozen scared where she stood, awaiting her death. Her brain had cut off from the rest of her body right at that moment and prevented any of her limbs from working right. She wanted to move her legs desperately, but it was like someone had super glued her feet to the pavement. All she was really able to do was close her eyes and scream. She shielded her face with her arms and waited for the feeling of being crushed by a heavy vehicle. Suddenly, she felt someone wrap their arms around her waist and tackle her out of the way of the car and to the ground. Olette opened her green eyes and saw the car squeal to a stop. A frantic driver popped out of the car, gasping, "Are you okay?" Olette blinked and saw she was lying on the sidewalk. There was a heavy load on her, suffocating her slightly.

"W-what happened?" she asked herself. She could still feel her heartbeat racing and herself shaking every so often. There was a lump in her throat that made it ache to swallow. And she had to blink multiple times because she could feel the tears pricking her eyes. But it felt better than being dead.

"You stupid girl!" someone above her yelled angrily.

Olette blinked back whatever was left of the tears that had swelled in her eyes and glanced up. As it turned out, the heavy load that was smothering her was the boy still sitting on her. It was a pale skinned boy, his golden spikes shining blindingly. Olette had the sudden urge to run her hand through his hair, just to see if it felt soft or spiky to the touch. His hair was a darker shade of blond than most. She looked into his irritated, narrowed eyes only to see a shade of blue that she could only find by looking up at the sky. Or maybe they were sapphire. Olette decided his eyes were sapphire blue, and not sky blue. For a moment she found herself mesmerized; it wasn't everyday she saw someone with such _blue_ eyes. She could feel the definitions of his soft muscles, what with him still refusing to get off her and whatnot. His face was contorted into an aggravated expression as he glared darkly down at Olette. The blond boy looked to be about her age.

"Why didn't you move?" he shouted.

Olette blinked for a moment before realizing his tone of voice was sharp and aggressive. She then comprehended the fact that the boy was mad at her for doing absolutely nothing. She sent him a glare of her own. Not only was she upset that he was yelling at her for nothing, but also because his weight was making it difficult for her to breathe. Olette pushed the boy off and sent him tumbling to the sidewalk.

"Shut your hole! I just wasn't paying attention!" Olette defended after jumping to her feet. She took a moment to brush off her skirt. But she then realized how ridiculous her reasoning was. She wasn't paying attention? Even she had to admit that was no good reason to stand in the middle of the street and wait to get run over by a car.

"So that's how you're going to thank me for saving your life?" the boy scoffed from his spot on the ground. Olette looked down to see that the boy was frowning up at her, somehow pulling off a somewhat adorable pout. Admitting it was adorable, though, was something she wasn't about to do.

"Fine! Thank you for saving my life," Olette slowly retorted in a conceited tone, mocking his mental ability. The boy huffed and turned his head away from the girl. He directed his pout to the sidewalk he was still sitting on.

Upon further inspection, Olette saw that the boy's attire consisted of an equal amount of white and black and checkered patterns. The checkered patterns were a mix of white and black squares. The pattern appeared on the white jacket he wore over his black zipped up shirt. His pants were both black and some sort of off-white color. Olette noticed more checkers around his fingers and wrists. She couldn't help but shudder at what she assumed was his rather odd checker fetish. She got a vibe, just from his clothing, that he was the type who went looking for trouble. It was Olette's turn to frown.

_Great. I was saved by a hoodlum with a crappy attitude. I'm so thankful. It's a shame, really. He's not bad looking._

Olette looked the boy over once more. She couldn't explain why, but she had a strange sense of déjà vu. And she only got that feeling when she looked at the blond-haired, blue-eyed, checkered-pattern-wearing boy. The boy finally got up and stretched his arms above his head. He could feel Olette continue staring at him intently as he did so. He was finally fed up with her obvious staring and went back to glowering at her.

"What?" he snapped.

"Have we met before?" Olette asked.

"No, thank God," the boy spat. He looked away, that arrogant smug look still resting on his face.

Olette frowned intently at him. She couldn't shake the feeling that she knew him from somewhere, though. The I'm-better-than-you attitude was definitely familiar. Even his physical appearance seemed somehow familiar. Olette wasn't one who would forget a face. She thought intently for a moment, searching her mind for a possibility as to who this boy could be. Then, finally, it clicked.

"Roxas?" Olette gasped, remembering the name from years ago. The boy looked back at her, alarm creeping its way onto his face. They remained in a momentary, awkward silence as they exchanged surprised stares with each other.

"How do you know my name?" the boy demanded.


	2. Striptease

**A/N – Edited 7/26/08. Warnings of a major crack pairing ahead. Aerith and Luxord? What was the writer thinking?**

° ˚ • ◊ • ˚ °

**C** h **a** p **t** e **r** T **w** o

**Strip**tease

"How do you know my name?" the blue-eyed blond boy demanded. He stared darkly at Olette, now becoming suspicious. His only reasonable answer was that the brunette standing before him was a stalker. Olette continued gaping at the boy, letting the anger slowly sink in.

_I can't believe I didn't recognize him right away!_

After remembering whom this mysterious boy was, Olette wasn't surprised at all that she didn't like him. In fact, she hated the blond specimen of a boy. She furrowed her brows together, pouting at Roxas. He simply returned the glare, only his didn't have deep meaning behind it like Olette's. It took most of her will power to not punch him square in the face. Even after seven years, she could still remember the memories vividly.

It all started in the third grade. That was when the tormenting and torture began. Back then, Olette wore her brown hair in a single braid that tumbled down her back. Roxas, unfortunately for her, was in her third grade classroom. And even more unfortunate for her, he sat in the desk right behind her. This gave him the perfect opportunity to begin his reign of terror on the poor girl. One day the teacher decided to have them all paint a picture to take home. They were given the usual supplies: Paintbrushes, paper, and cups of colorful paints. When Olette least expected it, Roxas grabbed her braid and dipped it in his cup of red paint. Doing so caused the little girl to burst out into tears. It took weeks to get the paint out of her hair. That was merely the beginning of what Roxas had in store for Olette. The timeout he got after dipping her hair in paint didn't teach him his lesson at all. After the paint incident, he continued pestering her for some unknown reason. He started with poking his pencil into her back, and then shooting spit wads at her. But the worst thing Roxas had ever done to Olette was when he took a pair of scissors and cut her whole braid off. Luckily for the tormented girl, Roxas finally moved away to Traverse Town in the fourth grade. She was free of his torture.

That is, until now.

"Bastard!" Olette shouted suddenly. Her sudden outburst caused Roxas to jump back and widen his eyes. He scowled, finally realizing that she had just called him a name. However, he kept a good distance between him and her. He had a feeling yelling wasn't the only thing the crazed brunette would do to him.

"All I did was save your life! I'm starting to regret doing so," Roxas muttered. He looked away, keeping his annoyed expression on. He was having a bad day enough as it was; the last thing he needed was this complete stranger to scream at him and call him rude names. If this was how people reacted when he saved their lives, then he wasn't going to do it anymore.

"Do you know who I am?" Olette inquired sternly, pointing to herself. "Do you remember me?"

The brunette leaned forward to get in Roxas' face. He stepped back quickly and changed his expression from his dark one to a startled one, alarmed by the girl's sudden actions. That and he had a thing about personal space. And right now, she was definitely in his bubble.

Roxas raised an eyebrow, finding her question odd. "I'm pretty sure we haven't met before."

"Do you remember a girl by the name Olette?" she demanded. She wasn't about to give up quite yet. "You would always bug her in the third grade!"

Roxas stood where he was for a moment, thinking. The name certainly did ring a bell. Mentioning the name to him also brought a face to mind. It had been so long since he heard the name Olette that he almost forgot. Almost. But his memory kicked in. He slapped his forehead in realization.

"Oh! I remember! Olette! Man, was she a brat!" Roxas laughed. This started an uncontrollable fit of laughter. Olette felt her face burn red with anger as she watched Roxas continue laughing at the memory of the goofy girl. He was chortling so hard, he had to hold his sides in fear of them splitting open. The green-eyed brunette clenched her fists tightly. Oh yeah, this was definitely the same Roxas from third grade. She got fed up with his laughter. Olette screamed so loudly her voice echoed throughout the whole town, and she was just about ready to pull out chunks of her hair. Roxas immediately stopped laughing just so he could stare in horror at the enraged girl.

"I'm Olette you moron!" she screeched at him, her face turning a darker shade of red. Roxas looked at her for several seconds, blinking. The air around them grew eerily quiet and still. The people who had stopped and stared at Olette when she broke down into an angered frenzy went on with their lives, acting as if she hadn't caused a scene at all. That was when Olette saw a smirk tug at the corners of Roxas' lips. He resumed with his laughing, only causing Olette's face to go blank.

"You're Olette? Wow, I really did screw up your hair!" Roxas ridiculed through a laugh. Olette's eye twitched. It didn't help when he started pointing _and_ laughing at her, either. "It's not even the same length!"

"They're called layers, stupid!" Olette defended loudly. She didn't want to cause another scene, but that was practically impossible when dealing with this boy. Subconsciously, she reached up for one of her strands of hair that stuck out awkwardly. She felt herself blush at the realization that her hair might have been slightly impractical. She remained glaring deeply at Roxas until his laughter died down. His laughter didn't completely go away because Olette could still hear them escape through his lips, but at least he wasn't doing it as loudly anymore. Wiping the tears from his eyes, Roxas looked back up at Olette with a smirk.

"Now that I think about it," said Roxas, "you kind of do look like the Olette I knew in third grade. Except for the weird hairstyle."

Olette narrowed her eyes at him, but he only leered. "Same goes for you. You even have the same sucky attitude you had in the third grade," she scoffed as she stuck her nose in the air. She allowed herself to smirk at her instant comeback. Especially when she saw the frown appear on the blond's face.

Roxas continued glaring. "I should have let that car run over you."

Olette snapped her head around and sent him an outraged look, her jaw hanging open. Roxas was now the one smirking, finding the girl's reaction quite a comical one.

"Why are you back in Twilight Town?" she seethed, crossing her arms over her chest. She kept her guard up, so as to retaliate if the boy threw out any more insults.

"That's really none of your business, now is it?" Roxas snapped. He, too, crossed his arms.

The two teens stood there in the middle of the sidewalk glaring at each other. The other residents of Twilight Town walked around them, ignoring the tiny feud the two were having with each other. The only ones who seemed to be paying attention to the fuming teens was a young couple in their twenties that had been eavesdropping the whole time. Once silence ensued among Roxas and Olette, the couple quickly turned around and faced the two fifteen year olds with wide smiles. The grins caused Olette and Roxas to flinch back in fright.

"Aw! Look, honey!" the young woman of the couple squealed, pointing at the blond and brunette teens. "That young teenaged couple is have their first fight!" This statement caused the teens to gawk at the young woman like she was mental.

"What did you say?" Roxas gagged, his face contorting into a look of pure disgust.

"Ew! She just called us a couple!" Olette exclaimed with repulsion dripping from her every word. She made a gagging motion towards Roxas, sticking two fingers into her mouth and making retching noises. In reality, though, she was just about ready to actually vomit.

"They're even in denial," the young man chuckled while placing his arm around the woman's shoulders.

The woman smiled at the man, and then back down at the two gagging teens. "Don't worry. You two can get through it. We did!" she reassured with a giggle as the couple began to walk away. Olette stared after the two, coming to the conclusion they were insane. Anyone who thought she and Roxas were going out _had_ to be crazy.

"Hey, lady!" Roxas called after the couple, cupping his hands around his mouth to amplify the volume of his voice. "I'm not going out with this ugly freak!"

Olette's heart suddenly felt like it was stabbed by a sharp knife. She already knew that she was sensitive when it came to people insulting her physical appearance. She had just about enough of that from Hayner's joke that day. The last thing she wanted was this boy that she hated to call her unattractive. She felt her face heat up again from anger. The tears of antagonism stung at her emerald orbs before she could control it. Without so much as another thought, Olette's brain snapped. Her body went rigid, her face went blank, and her eye twitched as she curled her fingers into fists again.

_UGLY?_

She flung her backpack with all her mustered up strength and hit Roxas in the back of his head as hard as she could. He yelped when the backpack made contact with his head, being completely caught off guard. The girl must have had more strength than she knew, because Roxas went stumbling forward quite a bit. He almost fell to the ground, but quickly regained his balance after flailing his arms about. He stood upright, his expression that of a shocked one. The boy quickly turned back to Olette, his eyes narrowed into slits and his expression rapidly changing back into a glower.

"Ow! What is your problem?" Roxas yelled as he rubbed the back of his head, the spot where he got hit throbbing painfully. He was faintly surprised to see Olette frowning at him, but her eyes glinting with angry tears.

"You haven't changed at all, have you?" Olette hollered over her shoulder when she turned her back on him. "You're more immature than you ever were!" She took off at top speed down the sidewalk, running away from the jerk that had saved her life. She shoved past the people idly making their way down the sidewalk. She kept her eyes shut, afraid that she might turn around to look at Roxas one more time before disappearing around the curb.

_Why does he have to be such a jerk? He was never nice, but at least in third grade he acted all hyper and happy! Not dark and rude and misunderstood like that!_

She reminded herself that while in the third grade they were only eight years old. And kids around that age usually tended to act hyper and cheery. Now, as teenagers, Roxas wasn't holding back on the hostility. Olette tried desperately to block Roxas' face from the depths of her mind, but that image kept reappearing constantly in her head, tormenting and teasing her. Olette sighed in defeat and hung her head. She finally slowed down to a walk, ambling her way through the thinning crowd. The sidewalk in the area of town she was now in was less teeming as the previous district. Olette sat down on a bench to relax and rest. She craned her neck back, resting it on the back of the bench, and sighed tiredly as she closed her eyes.

_Oh well. At least I won't see his face ever again._

° ˚ • ◊ • ˚ °

Olette wandered into the quiet neighborhood that stood proudly in Twilight Town. The vicinity was a ways away from the heart of town, rendering it peaceful. Her two-story house came into view. She hurried down the sidewalk to get to the comfort of her home. She lived with a normal family in a normal house that resided in a normal neighborhood. Well, maybe normal wasn't exactly the right word to describe her family.

She lived with her dad, who was named Luxord at birth. The tall man was blond-haired, his hair cut short, and was currently trying to grow an equally blond goatee on his chin and around his mouth. While the family was in good terms when it came to money, there was no way that Olette could deny her dad had a slight problem with gambling. Luxord's hobby? Gambling. His favorite pastime? Gambling. His ambition in life? Gambling. Not only was her father quite the gambler, but also just like any normal father he was strict and overprotective of his children. Mostly Olette. And with Luxord's intimidating blue-grey eyes and his height being well beyond six feet, no one would mess with this father when it came to his daughter. Though, Olette had to admit he was much too gaunt for a man his age.

Every girl's nightmare was having a little brother. This nightmare was a reality with Olette. She tried to survive through life while living with her fourteen year old brother, Zexion. It didn't help much that he was cunning as much as he was irritating. Though the boy was younger than Olette, he had a habit of tricking her into stupid pranks and outsmarting her at every turn. Like his father, Zexion had a light skin tone, looking pale when standing in the light. He styled his light ebony, almost grey, hair so that a portion of it was covering his right eye. Because of his hair color, Olette constantly teased him about being adopted. He would just storm off, mumbling incoherent words.

And then there was Olette's stepmother, Aerith. Olette decided a long time ago to call her stepmother by her first name. Her biological mother passed away several years ago from cancer. While it was hard on the family, Luxord had finally started dating again after some time passed. At first Olette was reluctant to accept any of his girlfriends, especially when he claimed, "I just want you kids to grow up with a mother who loves you." But then came the day Luxord introduced her and Zexion to Aerith. After Luxord and Aerith dated for almost a year, he popped the question and asked her to become his wife. Of course, she accepted. In no time at all, Olette came to love Aerith like she was her real mother.

Olette cut across her luscious green front lawn. She quickly halted in her tracks to take the time to glance over at the house next door. Next door to her house was another two-story house that had been on sale for months. What had caught her attention were the movers' vans in front of the house. The sign that had been hanging in front of the house that read FOR SALE now had a long sticker placed over it reading SOLD. Olette tilted her head to one side, causing her brown locks of hair to fall over her right shoulder.

"Hm? Someone must have finally moved into that house," Olette said to herself. The girl shrugged and headed towards the porch. She shut the door behind her upon entering her own house. "I'm home!" she called.

"Look sharp!" Olette heard her younger brother warn. She turned towards the direction Zexion's voice came from. She was met with the sight of a football twirling through the air right at her. The same football hit her in the face and sent tingles of pain jolting through her face and head.

"Zexion, you freak! Aerith said not to play with the football inside!" Olette scolded. She bent down and picked the football up briskly.

Zexion appeared in the foyer, smirking widely at Olette. The look on his face caused his older sister to frown. Zexion ran up to Olette and snatched the football from her hands. He looked up to smirk some more at her.

"All right then. I'll go play with the soccer ball inside the house," Zexion sassed, keeping the smirk on his face. Olette sighed loudly as her little brother hurried upstairs to go retrieve his soccer ball. She placed one hand on her waist, still frowning.

_That little twerp._

Olette went into the kitchen, while shaking her head, to find her stepmother. Sure enough there was Aerith, reading one of her magazines. Her stepmother was sitting behind the island in the kitchen, sitting in one of the tall chairs she placed around that one section. The young woman turned a page in the magazine, her green eyes scanning the periodical intently, before she noticed Olette's presence.

"Hello, honey. How was your day?" Aerith asked sweetly as she looked up from her magazine. The stepmother closed the magazine and set it down on the glossy counter. She smiled for Olette. Her stepdaughter returned the kind greeting with a toothy smile of her own.

Olette had always wondered why Aerith married her dad. They were two completely different people. Luxord was pretty strict and overprotective. Overprotective, Olette was certain, was a bit of an understatement when referring it to her father. He was what one would describe as a military man. Even though Luxord had never actually been in the military. Aerith, on the other hand, was cool and relaxed. One could say she was a teenager in an adult's body. While she did care about the teens, she never did raise her voice to them or discipline them for whatever wrong they committed. She enjoyed giving Olette and Zexion the freedom they craved for. They both loved her and were even willing to admit she was what they considered as awesome. If the two of them ever did something wrong, Aerith would say, "Oh, well. Kids will be kids." While Luxord would have pulled out his spanking belt and send both Olette and Zexion to Military School.

_Well, it's like Aerith says: Opposites attract._

"How was your day?" Aerith repeated.

"Oh, it was—" Olette stopped herself short when she realized her 'great day' wasn't as good as she thought it should have been. But it wasn't Hayner's ugly joke, or Seifer's unwillingness to leave Olette alone. No, it was Roxas' sneering face that suddenly popped up in her mind. She glowered, the sudden urge to punch someone in the face returning.

"Olette?" Aerith said cautiously. "Did something happen?" She noticed the anger and hatred evident in Olette's facial expression. All the cheerfulness was gone, disappearing into the void.

"Huh?" Olette blinked, her stepmother's voice pulling her back to reality. "Oh! Um… nope! Nothing! Everything was… everything was perfect," she lied. She even flashed a forced smile for her stepmother. Aerith looked unconvinced.

"If you say so…" The kitchen fell awkwardly silent. They could both hear Zexion kicking around a soccer ball upstairs. "So, did you notice that the house next door finally got sold?" Aerith questioned as she flipped back her hair.

Olette had always thought Aerith was beautiful. Her hair was light brown, cascading down her back in swirled tresses. The young woman usually pulled up her hair with a pink ribbon, making her locks look like they were styled into a messy braid. Her long bangs framed her face, shaping it to look round. Aerith's eyes were green enough to challenge Olette's own emerald pools. Her skin was light, ivory colored. Not only that, but she had the perfect body. She was fit, perfectly curved, and seemed to never gain weight. Olette only slightly envied her stepmother. Okay, she really envied her. But it was best if Olette kept that to herself.

"I noticed. Any idea who moved in?" Olette asked as she made her way over to the island to join Aerith. She dropped her backpack to the floor and slumped into one of the chairs to rest her tired feet. She had done more walking than she expected to do.

"Not a clue. I was going to go over and greet the new neighbors. Care to come with me? Zexion refused to accompany me," Aerith requested. She saw the reluctance make its way onto Olette's face. The stepmother quickly puckered out her bottom lip and gave her stepdaughter a pair of green puppy-dog eyes. Olette felt her resistance slowly melt away. One of these days, she was going to have Aerith teach her that trick.

"Sure, why not," Olette agreed. Reluctantly, but she did. She groaned when Aerith squealed loudly. That was when her stepmother jumped up, grabbed her by the hand, and rag dolled her out of the house.

The two females hurried across the lawn and out through the gate that fenced their house in. Olette saw that the movers had finished their business and left by now. Aerith opened up the gate that fenced the newly sold house in. They walked down the tiny sidewalk that led from the front gate to the porch. Aerith and Olette were now standing on the porch, staring at the large wooden door before them. There was a knocker on the door, and a doorbell beside the door. Olette couldn't help but wonder why there would be both a knocker _and_ a doorbell. She glanced up at her stepmother when no one made a move to knock the door.

"You knock!" Aerith joked, pretending to be nervous. She playfully pushed Olette, giggling. She tried muffling it with her hand. Her stepdaughter smiled at the playfulness of the young woman. Olette knew Aerith was one of the most confident people in Twilight Town. But she was also one of the most humble. The teenager came to the conclusion that Aerith was never going to knock the door. Olette reached for the doorbell and pressed the rectangular button. A cheery tune could be heard playing.

"Who do you think lives here now?" Olette questioned curiously as they waited for someone to answer the door.

Aerith looked down at Olette and smiled playfully. "Well, for your sake, hopefully an attractive young boy," the stepmother teased.

"Aerith!" Olette laughed, elbowing the woman. Someone finally opened the door, allowing all the noise from inside the house to flood out into the front lawn. The two females turned back to the door, regaining their composure, to greet the person. They quickly plastered polite smiles onto their faces.

"Hello and wel—" Olette immediately stopped talking. Her eyes landed on a familiar and most unwanted sight. And just when she thought she got away from him, too. She thought she heard her brain implode when she locked eyes with the person her hatred revolved around. The girl could feel the familiarity of pure and utter revulsion sinking in again. Roxas was standing in the doorway, staring at Olette with obvious surprise.

"What do you know? An attractive young boy," Aerith said with a smile, intertwining her fingers together.

"You!" both Roxas and Olette shouted. At the same time they had jumped back and pointed at each other, looks of mixed horror and loathing plastered firmly onto their faces. Olette's stepmother blinked as she looked back and forth between the boy and the girl.

"Oh, you two already know each other," Aerith chimed, completely oblivious to the hatred being exchanged between the two teens.

"What are you doing here?" Olette demanded fiercely.

A glare appeared on the blond's face. "I live here you idiot. What are you doing here?" Roxas retaliated.

"I live next door to you," the green-eyed brunette girl replied, her tone of voice still sharp. As soon as Olette answered there was a ghostly moment of silence. Both the teens' faces paled.

"NOOO!" Roxas and Olette shrieked simultaneously in horror. They both grabbed their hair, screaming in disbelief at the sky.

"What the hell is with all the yelling?" a woman barked from inside the house. A slender woman with short blonde hair and dull grey eyes appeared in the doorway. She stood next to Roxas, her skin just as pale as his. Her face was thin, and a sadistic look of hostility appeared on her face. Olette noticed that two strands of her hair, her bangs most likely, were pulled back over her head like a pair of antennas. "Oh, hello," she greeted in a bored manner.

"Hello. I'm Aerith Gainsborough, and this is my stepdaughter, Olette. We're your neighbors," Aerith introduced with a smile on her face. She held out her hand for the blonde lady to shake.

"Hello. My name is Larxene Nohart, and this my son, Roxas," the blonde lady politely introduced as she shook Aerith's hand. Olette couldn't help but notice that while this Larxene woman replied politely, her tone was still snippy. It looked like she and her son had much more in common than their appearance.

Roxas and Olette stood on the porch and in the doorway, shooting imaginary daggers at each other. The two women left the glares unnoticed, still chatting away. Aerith took a moment to quickly glance Roxas up and down. Grinning, she leaned down towards Olette and cupped her mouth

"Hey, Olette, he's kind of cute," Aerith teased, using a whispered tone so that only Olette could hear her. Her stepdaughter's cheeks tinted pink for a moment.

"What?" Olette gasped, sounding shrill and high pitched. Roxas snickered, both flattered and amused. He leaned against the frame of the doorway, his arms crossed and smirking at Olette.

"You can come in if you'd like," Larxene offered. She stepped aside and gestured towards the inside of her house. Aerith stepped through the doorway happily while Olette remained where she stood on the porch.

Her stepmother glanced back at her inquisitively. "Olette, don't be rude," Aerith chided.

"Um…" The girl hesitated, wringing her hands together before she lied, "If you don't mind, I have to go home and finish up my homework." She spun on her heels and dashed off back towards her house. The other three blinked in confusion as Olette hurried off in her desperate attempt to escape. They could hear the door to her house slamming shut.

Aerith turned back to Larxene and smiled anxiously. Her brows knitted together in embarrassment. "I'm sorry. She's usually very polite," she apologized.

"Could have fooled me," Roxas muttered under his breath, his eyes downcast. Larxene smacked him lightly in the back of the head for what he thought was his unheard comment.

° ˚ • ◊ • ˚ °

The evening finally rolled around on what Olette thought was a _very_ long day. Her digital alarm clock read five o'clock. Outside the sky had become a mixture of orange, purple, and dark blue. The stars had yet to appear in the firmament. The clouds were smeared together, drifting about lazily in the evening sky. Olette was in her room, relaxing away on her computer. Downstairs, she could hear Aerith at work in front of the stove, and Zexion watching some TV program. Kairi had suddenly instant messaged her, her screen name being **Deepest Desire**. Olette logged in as **Emerald Eyes**.

**Deepest Desire:** _Hey, Olette. Pence told me wat Hayner did. That loser. R u ok?_

**Emerald Eyes:** _Yeah, I'm fine. It's just stupid Hayner, right?_

**Deepest Desire:** _Right. Ur still angry, aren't u?_

**Emerald Eyes:** _No._

**Deepest Desire:** _It took u 2 minutes 2 answer. Wat happened?_

**Emerald Eyes:** _Honestly! Nothing happened! God…_

**Deepest Desire:** _Olette!_

**Emerald Eyes:** _All right! There's this boy—_

**Deepest Desire:** _OMG u got a bf!?_

**Emerald Eyes:** _What? No!_

**Deepest Desire:** _Then wat?_

**Emerald Eyes:** _He's a pain in the ass is what!_

**Deepest Desire:** _Is he cute?_

**Emerald Eyes:** _No._

**Deepest Desire:** _Hot?_

**Emerald Eyes:** _Hardly._

**Deepest Desire:** _Sexy?_

**Emerald Eyes:** _Kairi, stop it!_

**Deepest Desire:** _Oh, so he is sexy? XD_

**Emerald Eyes:** _I'm going to leave._

**Deepest Desire:** _All right, I'll stop._

**Emerald Eyes:** _Thank you._

**Deepest Desire: **_Had a bad day?_

**Emerald Eye**s: _No, I had a wonderful morning. But, lo and behold, the afternoon sucked._

**Deepest Desire:** _I feel sry 4 u._

**Emerald Eyes:** _I feel sorry for myself, too._

**Deepest Desire:** _It sucked just bcuz of Hayner?_

Olette's fingers hovered over the keyboard, twitching to type something to her friend quickly. She could simply lie and say it was all Hayner's fault. Or she could tell Kairi the whole story about Roxas. Contemplating the results, the brunette decided to leave Kairi in the dark. Besides, mentioning Roxas again would only start an explanation that would last hours over IM. Olette didn't really want to reminisce on the idea of Roxas anyway, so before Kairi got suspicious she quickly typed down,

**Emerald Eyes:** _Yes, all because of Hayner. ›:-(_

"Olette! Come down stairs!" Aerith called suddenly. Olette jumped slightly in her revolving chair. "Your dad is home from work, and dinner is ready!"

**Emerald Eyes:** _I have to go. Dinner's ready. Yum!_

**Deepest Desire:** _C u l8er._

_**Emerald Eyes has logged off.**_

Olette logged off but kept her computer on. She headed downstairs and descended into the kitchen. She sat at the oak dinner table. The aroma of spaghetti was the first thing that welcomed her nose. She could still hear Aerith working away, the dishes clinking together and the stove hissing. Luxord trudged into the roomed, looking exhausted. He sighed loudly as he slumped into a seat at the table. The blond man hung his head, allowing his tired limbs to rest for a moment.

"Hi, Daddy!" Olette greeted with a smile.

"Hello, sweetheart," he replied in his accent, waving his hand limply at her. Olette's little brother finally entered the kitchen, the smell of dinner attracting him.

"Yo, my old man! What up?" Zexion greeted as he sat down next to Olette. Instantly, he grabbed a fork and knife and held them upright against the top of the table.

"If that means hello, then hello to you, too," Luxord responded dryly. He had learned some of his son's strange lingo by now.

Aerith placed all the spaghetti on their plates and served everyone their food happily. A smile was evident on her face. She gave her husband a quick greeting before sitting herself down on the other end of the table. They began to eat away at their spaghetti. For several minutes, the table was silent, with the exception of the noisy chewing and swallowing. Sometimes the table was loud with chatter, and sometimes it was quiet. It just depended on what day it was or what mood the family was in.

"Aerith, honey, did someone finally buy that house next door?" Luxord asked before sticking some spaghetti into his mouth. Olette tried to control her eye twitching. If anything, she _did not_ want to talk about Roxas, her new neighbor.

"Actually, yes, someone did," Aerith chirped. "The nicest people I've ever met!"

"You must be only talking about the mother," Olette mumbled, poking at her spaghetti with her fork.

"Come again, Olette?" her dad questioned curiously. His daughter gulped suddenly as her spaghetti poking increased in speed.

"Hm? Um, nothing." Olette stuffed her face with spaghetti so as to avoid being included in the conversation. Her stepmother wasn't going to make it that easy.

"Olette, I've been meaning to ask about your behavior when we went to go meet our new neighbors," said Aerith. Olette was almost choking on the amount of spaghetti she was forcing into her mouth. While it tasted appetizing, it wasn't enjoyable when she was being forced to discuss a topic she'd rather not talk about and when she was choking on the spaghetti. Zexion had to cover up his snickering when he began laughing at his older sister.

_Crap! What happened to the cool Aerith?_

"What happened?" Luxord inquired. He looked up from his plate of food.

"Olette was acting rather rude towards the neighbors," Aerith tattletaled calmly. "Then she ran off right when we were offered to go into their house." Olette stuffed her face as much as she could. By now her cheeks were puffed out from the amount of spaghetti she stored in her mouth.

"Why did you do that, Olette?" Luxord asked, sounding alarmed by this piece of information.

"Mm hm mm hm hm hm," Olette answered through her mouthful of spaghetti.

"Olette, don't talk with your mouth full," Aerith casually said as she began to poke at her own spaghetti. Olette swallowed hard on her food, and then quickly cleaned her plate of any spaghetti.

"I'm done! I'm going back up stairs!" she told her family hastily as she dashed out of the kitchen. Her father and stepmother stared, blinking in confusion.

"What is with that girl?" Luxord asked.

"Dad, you're talking about Olette here," Zexion sighed.

Olette scampered up the stairs and into her room, her footsteps noisy. She slammed the door behind her and locked it. Downstairs, she became so uncomfortable she thought she was going to explode if she had to suffer anymore. But at least she finally escaped. Though, she wished she were able to savor her dinner. When it came to cooking, Aerith was a pro. But it was either savor the food and suffer, or practically kill herself choking and escape. The latter sounded more tempting. Sighing, Olette flopped onto her bed with her arms stretched out to her sides. Her eyes fluttered open when she thought she had seen something interesting out of the corner of her eye before lying down on her bed. Curious, she quickly sat straight up and gazed out her window. The curtains were pushed aside, leaving her window open to look out at the outside world. To her chagrin, she saw Roxas standing in front of a window in the house next to hers.

"No! Damn it, no! I can see into his room from mine!" Olette hissed.

Though she was upset at this sudden discovery, she decided to continue spying on the blond. It looked like Roxas was getting ready for bed. The girl quickly glanced at her alarm clock to see that it was getting around that time to get into bed. Her eyes drifted back over to where Roxas was. Suddenly, completely unexpectedly, he pulled off his shirt to reveal his bare chest. Olette felt her heart thump faster inside her chest. Heat rushed up to her cheeks, making her face burn intensely.

_OH, MY GOD!_

Olette flopped back down on her bed and stared wide-eyed at the ceiling. Her heart wouldn't stop beating at an incredibly fast rate, and she could feel the palms of her hands start to sweat nervously. And as much as she hated to admit it, her face was glowing bright red from all the blushing she was doing. She screamed at herself in the safety of her mind.

_I can't watch him! It's inappropriate! It would be like watching a stripper or an erotic dancer of some sort! And it's just plain wrong!_

But then she remembered the exact details of his nicely defined chest. While his clothes hid it, she had noticed that Roxas had some nice muscles going on. Not to mention his abs. His nicely sculpted, washboard abs that every fifteen-year-old boy should have. Olette's face burned more at the thought of this. She mentally slapped herself and demanded her hormones to calm down. Yet, something poked at her, telling her to keep on watching. Olette debated with herself, listing reason as to why she should and shouldn't watch. In the end, her willpower lost to her hormonal curiosity. She fell to the carpeted floor and army crawled over to her window. She peeked out into Roxas' room. His shirt was gone, lost somewhere on his floor. Roxas unzipped his pants, preparing to strip himself of them. Olette was surprised her face hadn't caught on fire yet, her face burning up from all the heat rushing to her cheeks when she saw what was going to take place

_NO! OH, MY GOD, NO! Olette, turn away! Turn away! WHY AREN'T YOU TURNING AWAY?_

Too late. Roxas had unzipped his pants and ripped them off. Olette remained peeking out of her window, her eyes growing to the size of saucers, as she ogled at Roxas in his boxers. Her face flushed more than it had before. Her heart was beating like the wings of a hummingbird, and any moment she was going to die from a heart attack. He might have been a jerk, but even Olette had to admit his body was… something to appreciate was a way she would have put it without sounding like a horny teenager. She used whatever shred of willpower she had left to control her drooling. Olette didn't know whether to enjoy the sight of the undressed teenaged boy or turn away in loathing disgust. Both options were oh so tempting. Suddenly her computer pinged, indicating an instant message had arrived for her. The sudden noise had caused Olette to scream.

"AAAHHH!" She jumped up in fright. The sudden scare only made her heartbeat increase in speed. Roxas quickly looked out his window in shock at the source of the scream. Olette kept her eyes glued on him, but then realized what had just happened. Her cover was blown.

_Oh, my God!_

She swiftly dropped to the floor and lied on her stomach. The thud echoed in her room. The only other noise she could hear was her heartbeat pounding in her ears. For a moment, she thought Roxas had seen her. And if he really did, this did not mean good news for her.

"I hope he didn't see me," Olette whispered, her face still burning red. Her computer pinged again.

_Damn computer…_

She inched over to the desk her computer rested on, crawling across the floor on her stomach. Olette didn't dare to get up until she was as far away from the window as possible. After glimpsing back over at the window, she realized she should have at least pulled the curtains closed. The brunette took a look at who was IMing her. It turned out to be Selphie, her screen name **SelphieGirl** glowing brightly on her computer screen.

_Damn Selphie!_

**Emerald Eyes:** _What what what WHAT!_

**SelphieGirl:** _Whoa. Wat happened 2 u?_

**Emerald Eyes:** _NOTHING HAPPENED!_


	3. Declaration of War

**A/N – Edited 8/1/08. The writer was bored and decided to use Disney characters as teachers. Mainly Jack Sparrow. Who, obviously, the writer does not own.**

° ˚ • ◊ • ˚ °

**C** h **a** p **t** e **r** T **h** r **e** e

**Declaration**of**War**

Olette squirmed around in her bed, her limbs tangled in her blanket. Her face was twisted into an expression that was a mix between delight and antipathy. The girl was unable to control the depths of her mind. It played movie-like dreams about Roxas all night. And in every dream he seemed to be undressing himself for some unknown reason. Spying on the little 'show' the night before had poisoned her brain, her innocent thoughts. When the last dream (or nightmare, she wasn't sure which was it) ended, she slowly opened her eyes. She gave a tiny yawn as she rubbed the sleep away from her tired eyes.

"Mmm… Roxas…" she slurred with a small smile, the words slipping out of her mouth before she could stop them. The girl was still half asleep, her brain being included. She stretched out her arms and legs, kicking the covers away, as she yawned again.

"Roxas?" Zexion echoed from somewhere above his older sister. Olette's eyes widened in surprise, the sleep leaving her body completely in that one second. "Okay then." The brunette jolted up in her bed. Her little brother was leaning against the frame of her door, his arms crossed and a lopsided smirk on his pale face. Zexion had come in to her room to wake her up to start her day of school. By now, he was snickering to himself.

"You freak! Get out of my room!" Olette screamed as she grabbed her clock and threw it at him, pulling its chord out of the wall. Zexion dodged the lethal flying object and ran out of the room, laughing his head off.

"Hey, Dad! Olette is having naughty dreams about a boy!" Zexion yelled throughout the whole house as he made his way to safety.

"WHAT?" Olette heard Luxord yell from somewhere in the house.

"Oh, God…" she yawned with another stretch. She quickly changed out of her pajamas and dressed into her school uniform. Her school garments consisted of a white button up short sleeve shirt, a blue and white plaid tie, a matching blue and white plaid skirt, knee length black socks, and a pair of black dress shoes. The brunette trudged tiredly down the stairs and descended into the kitchen. It was there that she saw Aerith making a quick breakfast of toast and orange juice. The simple aroma danced around Olette temptingly. She plopped into a chair absentmindedly.

"Good morning, Sleeping Beauty. Were you by any chance dreaming of Roxas?" Aerith teased. Making the joke caused a wide grin to appear on the woman's ivory face, revealing her set of pearly white teeth.

"Yes…" Olette blinked suddenly, realizing the answer that just crawled its way up her throat and escaped out of her own mouth. Her cheeks heated up when her answer made Aerith's grin grow in size. "Wait! No!" her stepdaughter tried covering up. Aerith merely laughed as she turned her back on Olette.

"Don't worry, Olette! I won't tell Luxord a thing. It's not like I can, anyway. He left for work already," Aerith whispered with a wink. She handed Olette a piece of toast. The girl immediately stuffed it in her mouth in fear that she would say something stupid again. "If you hurry, you can go and walk to school with Roxas."

Olette frowned at her stepmother's comment, especially when Aerith smiled down at her. She had obviously not caught on to the two teens' hatred by now. Olette wasn't appreciative of the woman's constant attempt to push them together much either. Swallowing her last bit of toast, Olette rose out of her chair and slipped her backpack over her shoulder. She smirked to herself when Aerith wasn't looking.

"Luckily, that won't happen because he doesn't go to my school," Olette snickered under her breath as she left the room.

She hurried out of the house, dodging another ball that Zexion was throwing around in the house. Olette only hoped Aerith would catch him one day and ground him for life. Olette halted halfway down the sidewalk and froze where she stood. Slowly, she turned her head to stare at the house Roxas was now living in. Her blood boiled at the thought of actually being neighbors with _him_. Olette stuck her tongue out at the house while making a gagging noise, then hurried off towards school as fast as she could.

The brunette made it onto the crowded school campus. Despite the amount of students that were surrounding her, Kairi and Selphie had been able to pick her out. When she stepped foot onto the campus, almost at once Selphie and Kairi rushed up to her excitedly. As they did so, they almost tackled Olette to the ground. Luckily, she had managed to keep her balance. She peered into the elated faces of her two friends, noticing the grins on their faces that hinted at some sort of teasing that was about to ensue.

"Um… hello?" Olette arched an eyebrow in cautious curiosity. The teasing, no doubt about it, was going to be done to her. This was not how she wanted to start her morning.

"Kairi told me you met a boy," Selphie sang, her grin turning into a smirk. Yep. Teasing was definitely going to be involved. And Olette was the unfortunate target.

Olette's jaw dropped, the annoyance scampering its way onto her face rapidly. She turned to give the redhead a frown. "Kairi!" she huffed, throwing her arms into the air. If there was one thing Olette knew, it was to never tell Selphie stories about boys.

"What's he like?" Selphie asked while poking Olette hard in the shoulder.

"He's a jerk. I hate his guts. I hope he dies," Olette answered bluntly. She blew strands of her hair out of her face. Selphie stopped the poking long enough to look at her with vivid surprise.

"Not the answer I was expecting…"

"I told her that part," Kairi admitted to Olette as they walked through the crowd and into the school. The hallways inside were just as congested as the campus outside. "But she didn't believe me."

"I'll see you two later," Olette sighed as she headed in the opposite direction as Kairi and Selphie. The girls waved solemnly to their brunette friend as she disappeared into the swarm of Dusk High School students. After a fierce battle of shoving, Olette finally made it in one piece to her locker. After rummaging around in it for a bit, Pence came up to her, dragging Hayner behind him.

"Hey, Pence." She paused as she quickly glanced down at the whimpering individual Pence was holding on to. "Hayner?" Olette stared wide-eyed at the cowering Hayner. He had rolled himself up into a ball and began rocking side to side in a paranoid manner. "Dare I ask, what's his problem?"

"He doesn't want to go to homeroom," Pence answered as he, too, glimpsed down at his groveling friend in disgust. He shook his head and Olette could hear him sigh loudly.

"Trust me, Hayner. I have it much worse than you," Olette grumbled. She went back to going through her locker for the books she needed.

"Leon wants to kill you, too?" Hayner asked with hope gleaming in his eyes as he shot up, back on his feet. He got uncomfortably close to Olette, getting right in her face. She recoiled back, frightened by how one person easily scared her rather headstrong friend.

"No. And Leon doesn't want to kill you. I have it worse because…" Olette's voice trailed off as the anger began to sink in. She narrowed her emerald eyes and knitted her brows together irritatingly. She didn't want to think about him. Oh, how she didn't want to think about him. If anything, she wanted to push the thought of him out of her mind completely. But he somehow found a way to creep his way back into her mind.

"Whoa. Olette looks angry," Pence gasped. He stepped back, afraid that she was about to take a swing at somebody.

"What happened to you?" Hayner asked with a tilt of his head.

"Nothing," Olette growled through her teeth, her face burning red from resentment. She slammed her locker shut, the sound of its slam resonating throughout the hallway. The sound could be heard clearly over the chatter and mingle of the other students. Olette's locker door broke off its hinges, the girl having more strength than she knew. She stormed off in a bad mood, a black cloud almost literally looming over her. Pence and Hayner stared after her as they remained together in silence. It was only when Olette disappeared from their sights did they slowly turn to each other with baffled faces.

"PMS?" Hayner guessed.

"That's what I was thinking," Pence agreed, nodding his head.

° ˚ • ◊ • ˚ °

"Everyone sit down," Leon ordered darkly as he entered his classroom. Everyone obeyed him, Hayner being the quickest to follow the demand. Leon came to a stop at the front of the class and turned to his homeroom students. "It seems we have a new student."

"A new student? I hope it's a hot girl!" Hayner whispered loudly to Olette. She narrowed her eyes at him. Only Hayner could be lecherous at times like these.

"Quiet in the back!" Leon barked, pointing right at where Hayner, Pence, and Olette sat. Hayner straightened up as his face paled. Olette giggled at the sight of his frightened expression. Had Hayner not been so terrified of Leon, he would have insulted the girl very loudly. Leon continued, "The new student moved here from Traverse Town. I expect you all to treat him with as much respect as you do with each other."

Olette furrowed her brows together. _Then that's not a lot of respect._

Leon gestured out into the hallway, cueing the student to make their appearance.

Olette heard loud, trudging footsteps. Almost like the person was reluctant to come in. She watched curiously as one foot stepped through the door. When she saw who the new student turned out to be she wanted to go homicidal. Her eye twitched as a blood vessel burst somewhere in her head. Roxas walked up to Leon, and turned at the class. On his face was a bored expression, and there was no sign of first-day-of-school jitters. Olette wanted to gag when she heard the girls in her class say things about Roxas that could only be classified as fan girlish. She couldn't process the thought as to why _he_ would even have fan girls to begin with. Olette curled her fingers together into tight fists and gritted her teeth together. The crimson color of fury returned to her face.

"Olette?" Pence asked cautiously, leaning into the aisle towards the brunette. "You look… mad. Is something wrong?"

Roxas' eyes trailed over the room, lingering on each face momentarily. None of the students brought any sort of emotion to his face. And then his sapphire pools landed on Olette way in the back of the room. His eyes widened once spotting Olette. It was then that his face also burned with hatred. He jumped back where he stood, his arm stretched out in front of him and his index finger pointed directly at Olette.

Olette jumped out of her seat to point right back at Roxas. The clamor and strange behavior earned both her and Roxas the eyes of every single student in their homeroom. Leon watched without a care. Fingers pointed, faces contorted into angry expressions, both the teens shouted simultaneously,

"YOU!"

"I see you already know Olette," Leon said with an uninterested tone. He looked at Roxas, who was still pointing at Olette. "All right then, you can sit behind her."

Olette's eye twitched again that morning. She dug her fingernails into her desk, processing the decision that Leon had just made.

_What? What! WHAT?_

For a moment, Roxas looked over at Leon with a pleading look. But in the end, he frowned and hung his head. Roxas slowly made his way to the back of the classroom, his footsteps loud against the tile floor. Olette glowered to the front of the room, keeping her eyes off Roxas when he passed by her. She started hearing absurd accusations about how she must be going out with the blond if they already knew each other. Olette thought she was going to vomit at the thought of the idea. She'd rather be eaten by rabid wolves. Roxas took his seat in the desk behind Olette, keeping his eyes downcast. This brought back horrible memories of the third grade, when he used to sit behind her. Remembering the red paint incident, she raised her hand.

"What is it, Olette?" Leon asked with a sigh, his tone of voice annoyed. He rolled his eyes to the ceiling.

"Are we going to be painting in this class?" she questioned with a loud voice, so that her teacher could hear her from all the way at the back of the class. An awkward silence ensued.

"…No."

"Okay then."

Several students snickered to themselves, causing Olette to tint a light shade of pink. Her question might have sounded dumb, but she did not want a repeat of that incident from third grade. She glanced over her shoulder at Roxas out of curiosity. Ideas floated about in her head on just exactly what he was going to do to make her life a living hell. He looked up from his desk, and the two locked eyes with each other. For a moment, Roxas' face remained blank, unreadable. Suddenly, he leered maliciously. Olette quickly turned back around in her seat, a tiny feeling of anxiety washing over her.

_What was with that smirk?_

Roxas leaned in over his desk as Leon lectured on about the wonders of the school dress code and whispered in Olette's ear, "Did you enjoy what you saw last night?"

His breath tickled her skin, but that wasn't what sent the chilling tingles up and down her spine. Olette's eyes widened out of horror as these words danced tauntingly in her head. Her body went rigid, frozen from pure horror. A blush crept onto her face, turning her skin into a rosy color. Whether it was from embarrassment or infuriation, she did not know.

"Oh. My. God."

Her reaction only fed Roxas' evil intentions, making his smirk grow.

"That's right, I saw you. And to think, I thought you hated me," Roxas mocked in a hushed tone, his leer turning sadistic. Olette's face only glowed a deeper shade of red.

"I wasn't watching out of pleasure, you know!" she hissed to him, slightly turning her head but keeping her eyes glued to their teacher. "It's not like I wanted to or anything! And why didn't you close the curtain or something!"

"Do you remember what color boxers I had on?" Roxas asked, his voice changing from sardonic to sickly sweet.

"Blue," Olette answered without thinking. Roxas smirked with a low, evil chuckle. Olette groaned to herself and slapped her forehead. That was the umpteenth time that day she spoke up before she thought about what she was saying.

"You dirty girl," he whispered. Her eye twitched, but failed to keep her blush at bay. "By the way, today they're black." He leaned back in his seat and folded his arms behind his head. Roxas watched in wicked amusement as Olette flushed bright red. She had to force herself to get the image of black boxers out of her head. She groaned again as she slid further down in her seat and shielded her face with her cupped hand.

"Olette, that guy looks a little familiar," Pence whispered as he leaned across the aisle once more. Luckily for her, neither Hayner nor Pence heard anything Roxas whispered to Olette. She forced a smile at her dark brunet of a friend, but it strained her face.

Hayner turned around in his seat to face Olette. "Yeah, actually he does. Where have I seen him?" he asked himself while tapping his chin. He looked up at the ceiling, as if looking for the answer there.

"Try the third grade," Olette growled. Her embarrassment was gone, now replaced by pure hatred. Hayner looked at her, confused.

The classroom grew quiet as Leon finally stopped lecturing. Hayner quickly faced forward, afraid that the man would hear them chattering away with each other. Olette went back to hating her life. Homeroom was almost over, but much to Olette's chagrin they still had too much time left in that class before they headed off to first period. To make time 'fly by' their teacher decided it fit to give the students something to do.

Leon decided to pass out worksheets. "No talking," he instructed. He paused in front of Hayner's desk as he handed the dirty blond a worksheet. Hayner made the mistake of looking up at Leon, only to be met with a scowl. "And you can't ask your neighbors for help, Hayner."

"What did I do?" Hayner chocked as his voice cracked.

"I said no talking."

Hayner grumbled to himself as he reluctantly took the paper from Leon. The teacher went on his merry way as the boy sulked in his seat. Hayner began scribbling away on his worksheet. Olette stared at her own worksheet for a moment, searching for the answers to the questions in the recesses of her mind. Suddenly, she felt something pointy jab her sharply in the back.

"Ow!" She quickly peeked over her shoulder while wearing a frown. Roxas was writing on his worksheet, pretending to be innocent. He had his head down, hovering over his worksheet in deep concentration. Olette sighed tiredly and turned back to her own worksheet. Not long after that, she felt another jab. "Ow!" Olette turned around in her seat to face Roxas. She slammed the palm of her hand over his paper and hissed, "Stop it!"

"Stop what?" Roxas played stupid. He tilted his head to his right, a fake innocent look on his face.

"You know exactly what!"

With that said, Olette turned back around. She huffed and went back to working on her worksheet in peace. For a while, Roxas stopped bothering her as he worked on the worksheet Leon gave him. The peace didn't last long. A couple of minutes went by, and then she was jabbed painfully in the back again. The brunette slammed her pencil down on her desk and swiveled around in her chair. Roxas looked up with surprise he pulled off to look genuine.

"Damn it! I thought I told you to stop it!" Olette yelled frustratingly. Roxas' phony shocked expression remained on his face as he pretended to act like Olette was insane. Her sudden outburst once again earned the two of them stares from the other classmates. Hayner and Pence gawked at Olette like she was going nuts. She could feel the other students boring intense stares into her, but she refused to peel her narrowed eyes away from Roxas. The teacher looked up at them to see what all the commotion was about.

"Olette, is there a problem?" Leon asked from his desk in a bored tone.

The brunette turned away from Roxas and faced forward in her seat. She looked up at their teacher and forced the best composed and tranquil expression she could pull off. Her efforts were futile since the glare refused to leave her face. And it was most likely her face was burning red from anger again. Nevertheless, Olette kept a straight face and a neat posture.

"Yes, there is. This _bastard_ keeps poking me with his pencil," Olette replied as calmly as she could.

"I have no idea what she's talking about," Roxas lied with a lopsided smirk. She quickly looked over her shoulder and flashed him a frown.

"How about this?" Leon sighed, sounding exasperated. He rubbed his temples in circular motions. "Both of you have after school detention today."

Olette's face fell at the sound of the punishment. She had been an innocent victim of Roxas' crimes, and she was getting punished for it! She could feel the color draining from her face as she paled. Never before had she gotten detention, or any kind of trouble at that. She felt her fingers twitch in apprehension. She couldn't help but jump to her feet, ready to defend herself. Roxas jolted upright in his seat, looking at Leon like he was also crazy. The boy's expression went from cocky to outraged.

"What?" both Olette and Roxas gasped, one high pitched and the other demanding.

"But I didn't even do anything!" Olette complained, trying to reason with her teacher.

Leon merely shrugged at her efforts. "Hey, that's life for you," was all he said.

Olette continued standing for a moment, eyeing Leon for mercy. Eventually she slowly sat down. For a moment, she remained sitting where she was and staring into the abyss. The brunette quickly turned around and gave Roxas her darkest glare. He recoiled in actual alarm, the intensity of her glare getting to him. Roxas blinked in confusion, wondering what he had done to deserve her dirty look. Olette quickly turned back around in her seat as the class worked in silence. She tightly clenched her fists.

_All right, Roxas. If this is how you want to play, then bring it on!_

° ˚ • ◊ • ˚ °

Much to Olette's pleading delight, lunch had finally beckoned the students to leave their stuffy rooms and make their way to the cafeteria. The brunette practically sprinted out of the room when the bell rang; anything to get her away from Roxas. Someone must have enjoyed torturing Olette, because she soon learned that Roxas had every single class with her. Why did she have to be the one to suffer? She plopped down onto the bench, dropping her tray of food on the table. Surrounding her were her best friends, Hayner and Pence. The girls, Selphie, Kairi, and Yuffie, had decided to eat with them as well today. Kairi dragged Sora and Riku along with her, forcing them to eat lunch with Olette and her friends. The seven watched anxiously as Olette sighed loudly, her breath hissing through her teeth. She slammed her head against the table, startling the others and making them jump. They heard a groan come from the brunette.

"Olette?" Kairi dared, her voice slow and cautious. Olette raised her head high enough to slowly turn and glare at the redhead. Kairi could almost see the lightning flash in the background and hear the frightening music play. She smiled nervously and went back to eating her sub sandwich.

"What's the matter, Olette?" Sora asked the brunette. She turned her glare on him. The thorny haired brunet also flashed a forced smile for Olette before averting his ocean blue eyes and going back to prodding his tray of school food curiously.

"It's the new kid," Hayner told the teens sitting at the table. The very mention of Roxas made Olette groan aggravatingly and resume to slamming her head against the table.

"What did he do?" Riku asked, flicking his silver bangs out of his aquamarine eyes.

"He ruined my life. And now I'm going to ruin his," Olette murmured. She began her fit of maniacal laughter at once. The very sight of Olette's demented side made all her friends sitting with her inch several inches away from her where they sat. The seven exchanged panicky glances with each other before Olette's cackling died down.

"What's the guy's name?" Yuffie inquired, stealing Olette's tray of food she had abandoned.

"Roxas!" Olette hissed the word like it was a vulgar taste lingering on her tongue. Her facial expression darkened just from saying his name.

"Roxas… Wait! The Roxas from third grade?" Pence queried.

"The very one."

"Well, no wonder you hate him!" Hayner laughed. He remembered the things Roxas did to Olette all too well. Hayner had gotten some of his good laughs from the times Roxas tormented the little eight-year-old Olette.

His laughing did not get a good reaction from the emerald-eyed brunette.

"Why are you laughing?" Olette snapped, a dangerous tone hinted in her voice. She turned her head to glower at Hayner. It instantly shut him up. An edgy grin twitched onto his face as he held his hands up in defense.

"I—I wasn't laughing," Hayner lied, adding a nervous chuckle.

"What happened in the third grade?" Sora asked with a mouthful of food.

"The guy was horrible towards Olette," Pence began story telling as he turned to face the others. "He did whatever he could to make Olette miserable. Most of the time he was just being immature, but there were times when he went too far."

Olette's hand reached up to one of her locks of hair that stuck out awkwardly when Pence said this. It was obvious he was talking about the time Roxas chopped off her hair with a pair of scissors. The last thing Olette wanted was for Pence to share _that_ story with the others. However, Riku interrupted before Pence could continue.

"That sounds like something a guy would do if they liked you," the silver-haired boy said casually as he stuffed a French fry into his mouth. Olette quickly whipped her head around to look at him, her eye twitching uncontrollably as she did so.

Only one thought was going through the heads of the others, with the exception of Riku, who was blissfully unaware of the blood vessel Olette was about to burst: _She's gonna blow._ They edged away as far away as they could from both Olette and Riku. The silver-haired junior kept picking away at his French fries, oblivious to the brunette's red face.

"WHAT DID YOU SAY?" Olette screamed, slamming her fists against the table. Riku yelped and fell off the bench. Despite the loud conversations that had been going on, half of the people in the cafeteria looked in Olette's direction. Riku shook his head clear of any dizziness and glimpsed up from his spot on the floor at the scowling brunette with widened aqua eyes.

"Well, it's true," Riku choked as his voice cracked.

"No, it isn't," Olette spat with a huff, sticking her nose in the air. "Roxas hates me. And I hate Roxas!"

"Did I hear my name?" a chilling voice chuckled evilly. Olette's eyes widened in mixed outrage and horror at the sound of his voice. His chuckle sent a chill racing down her spine. Roxas trotted up to the table the eight were sitting at. He leaned against the edge closest to Olette and smirked down at her.

"So, you're the Roxas kid that's bugging Olette?" Selphie remarked with a snippy tone. The smirk on his face grew. Doing so made the brunette suddenly nervous.

"So, she's been talking about me?" Roxas laughed, looking from Selphie back to Olette. "I'm not surprised."

Olette's face heated up instantly, Roxas' voice hinting at something that only she and he knew about. The others tilted their heads in perplexity. The smirk tugging at the corners of Roxas' lips told Olette exactly what he was talking about. Her body stiffened in apprehension. She could feel the palms of her hands growing sweaty and her breath turning shallow. The blond boy seemed to enjoy watching her squirm under his mercy. The last thing Olette wanted was for Roxas to tell all her friends she had accidentally watched him get undressed. But if he was telling the story, he would have made it sound like the whole thing wasn't an accident at all.

"What exactly are you talking about?" Yuffie demanded slowly.

Olette turned and looked at Roxas, pleading with her eyes. She might have had dignity, but not enough to not grovel to the enemy. He only smirked evilly at her. The boy was enjoying her misery all too much. Ignoring her insistent eyes completely, Roxas turned to her friends as the leer on his face grew. He opened his mouth to respond, and that was when Olette knew her life was over.

"I live next door to her, and she can see in to my room from her own bedroom. Last night I caught Olette watching me get undressed."

_NOOO!_

Olette's brain went dead, exploding from pent up anguish. Her once colored face went as white as a ghost. Kairi and Selphie gasped in unison, covering their slightly opened mouths with their hands. The two girls' eyes grew large from disbelief. Hayner and Pence broke out into loud peals of laughter. This did not help with the torment Olette was feeling at that moment. Watching her two best friends laugh at her misery made her want to burst out into tears. Sora cocked his head to the side in confusion. Yuffie looked from Roxas to Olette and back, her face twisted into an expression of disgust. Riku simply shrugged and went back to eating.

"Olette! I didn't know you were that kind of girl!" Selphie scolded with a stern look on her face. She wasn't really one to talk, though. Olette sat where she was in silence, her paled face turning red again from humiliation. Needless to say, she was mortified.

"Ha ha! Oh, my God, that's—ha ha!" Hayner tried to say, but he couldn't stop laughing. His eyes were tearing up from so much guffawing.

"Yeah. I guess Olette has a pretty dirty mind," Roxas snickered as he continued smirking. It took every once of willpower Olette had to not lunge over and strangle him.

Roxas got up from where he sat next to the green-eyed brunette. He stretched his arms above his head with his smirk still on his face. "Well, I have to go," he said.

The blond turned on his heels to leave the table. As Hayner went on laughing, Olette blinked and realized that her tormentor was finally leaving. A frown exploded onto her face. Her flush of embarrassment turned into one of anger. He had some nerve, wrecking her life and then just walking away! She wasn't about to let him off so easily. If he wanted a fight, then he was going to get one hell of a fight.

Olette stood up as she slammed the palms of her hands against the table. Despite this, Hayner wouldn't stop laughing. While he went on chortling, her other friends stared up at her in shock. She spun around, pointed at the blond boy, and shouted, "Roxas! This means war!"

Roxas stopped in his tracks and turned back to her. He stared for a second before responding, "Bring it on."

They glared at each other for a few more seconds from across the cafeteria, then Roxas walked off in a sulky mood. Olette sat back down, ignoring the fact that half the students in the lunchroom were gawking at her like she was some sort of freak. Hayner wouldn't shut up now, and kept on laughing. Olette, fed up with the events of the day, grabbed her milk and poured its contents all over his head.

° ˚ • ◊ • ˚ °

"Do you watch any porn on TV?" Hayner asked, halfway turned around in his seat as he studied his green-eyed best friend.

"For God's sake, Hayner! I didn't _want_ to watch that jerk!" Olette tried explaining with an exasperated tone. "It just sort of happened!"

Hayner didn't look convinced. And Olette _really _wanted to wipe the grin off Pence's face. The trio sat in their last period class, waiting desperately for school to end. Not that it mattered to Olette, because she had to go to detention right after class anyway. It didn't help much, either, that she had to have it with the one and only Roxas. Olette's dirty look grew darker, getting tired of Hayner's accusations.

"What else do you do that we don't know about?" Pence joked, chuckling quietly to himself. Olette was about ready to stab him with her mechanical pencil. The only thing that stopped her was the sound of their teacher's voice.

"Will you three stop talking?" Mr. Xigbar snapped as he finally looked up from his papers to yell at the trio in the back of his geometry class. He went back to grading papers when the three hushed themselves.

"You know," Hayner complained in a whispered tone after turning back to Olette. "This teacher and Leon have a lot in common."

Their geometry teacher glanced up at the clock for a moment. He shuffled his papers together and cleared his throat to get his students' attention.

"The bell is about to ring. Please do problems one through twenty-six for tonight's homework," Mr. Xigbar assigned the class.

"It's only our second day, and we already get homework?" Pence carped as the bell rang. Olette sighed and hung her head, remaining in her seat as everyone else jumped to their feet.

The trio filed out of the room, trailing after the mass of students that had their previous class with them. Olette descended into the hall with Hayner and Pence. It was only when both the boys turned around to face her with grins on their faces did she skid to a halt.

"Well, enjoy your detention with Roxas!" Hayner taunted as he hurried his way down the hall. Pence followed after him while waving teasingly to Olette from over his shoulder. She watched as the two disappeared into the sea of high schoolers. The brunette frowned to herself.

_One of these days, Hayner, I'm going to kill you._

As all the students headed for the exit, Olette went against the flow of teenagers in the opposite direction. By the time she escaped the suffocating mass into an empty hallway, the crowd was thinning. The sound of mingling students behind her was slowly drifting away. Olette's ears picked up the sound of ambling footsteps at the other end of the vacant hall. As she slowed down to a stop, Roxas appeared around the corner with his hands stuffed into his pockets. He glanced up at her quickly before frowning. He hung his head and kept on walking, as Olette remained frozen in anger where she stood.

_No one is around. They would never know it was me who murdered Roxas._ Olette smirked at the idea.

Before she had a chance to do anything, Roxas sauntered right past her. She blinked, and then spun on her heels to confront the boy with a frown. The brunette placed her curled up hands on her hips, looking much like a mother scolding her child.

"Where are you going?" she demanded.

"Home," he answered without looking back at her.

"But you have detention!"

"So?"

Olette rolled her eyes. She wondered how teachers could put up with this sort of attitude. If it had been her, she would have smacked her students by now. Huffing, she looked away from the ceiling and back at the blond boy.

"Besides, it's not like that stuck up teacher is ever going to find out!" Roxas snickered as he finally turned to face Olette.

He went on his way down the hall, walking backwards as he stayed facing the brunette. Just as he was about to turn the corner, he ran into someone. Roxas looked up, startled, to see it was Leon. Their homeroom teacher looked down at the blue-eyed blond with a stony expression. But if Olette had to decide on a facial expression, she'd have to say Leon looked like he was wearing a scowl.

"The stuck up teacher is never going to find out, huh?" Leon echoed, crossing his arms over his chest. Roxas turned pale as he stared up at the teacher with widened sapphire eyes. Though she remained calm on the outside, Olette was laughing like a lunatic in the depths of her mind.

"Where are you going, Roxas?" demanded Leon. "You have detention."

"I—I know. I was just going to the bathroom," Roxas fibbed as he backed away slowly from his homeroom teacher.

Leon pointed down the hall behind both Olette and Roxas. The blond recoiled at the motion. "Go."

Roxas quickly turned where he stood and hurried down the hall. Olette followed after him, trying her hardest not to snicker. After an awkward moment of silence down the empty hall, the detention room came into view. The two entered the classroom, empty with the exception of the teacher sleeping behind the desk. He snored loudly, his legs propped up on the desk as his hands lay in his lap. His hair was long, reaching past his shoulders in what looked like dreadlocks. His skin was sun-kissed, colored from much of the time he must have spent outside. Olette noticed the brown mustache growing on his face, neatly combed and a messy mop of hair at the same time. Olette had heard about this teacher, Mr. Jack Sparrow. He was usually relaxed, a favored teacher among the students of Dusk High. This was only because Mr. Sparrow was always asleep in the middle of his classes and difficult to wake up. Olette cleared her throat loudly in an attempt to rouse the slumbering teacher. Mr. Sparrow snorted with a start and practically went tumbling out of his chair. He straightened up and stared at the two teens with eyes widened from surprise.

"Names?" Mr. Sparrow asked in his English accent.

"Roxas Nohart."

"Olette Gainsborough."

"All right. Take a seat," Jack Sparrow yawned.

Olette couldn't help but notice the odor of alcohol hanging about in the room. She wasn't quite sure, but something told her it was the smell of rum. She turned to look at Mr. Sparrow, only to see that he had quickly fallen asleep again. The smell of the rum was strongest over by Jack Sparrow's desk. Shaking her head, Olette took a seat on the left side of the room. Roxas went and sat down on the right side of the room, making sure to sit as far away from Olette as possible. Two minutes passed by as both the teens sat in silence, with the exception of Mr. Sparrow's snoring. The classroom door slammed open suddenly, waking Mr. Jack Sparrow from his sleep a second time.

Standing in the doorway was a tall girl, her skin cream colored. She scanned the nearly empty detention room with her crimson eyes. Her dark brown hair flowed past her shoulders and down to her lower back while her bangs hung over her eyes. The mysterious girl tucked a strand of her hair behind her left ear before crossing her arms. Olette and Roxas stared up at her, almost gawking for a moment. The first thing Olette noticed was that the girl was wearing the boys' school uniform. The uniform for boys consisted of a short sleeve white button up shirt, a solid blue tie and solid blue pants to match the tie. The girl had left the three top buttons undone and wore a pair of black dress shoes. The only seemingly girly thing about the intimidating female was the pair of earrings she was currently wearing.

"Welcome back, Tifa," Mr. Sparrow greeted through a yawn, stretching out his limbs. The girl he addressed as Tifa nodded politely and took a seat in the middle row, right between Olette and Roxas. The silence ensued once more. Out of the peripheral of their vision, Roxas and Olette watched the girl cautiously.

_Welcome back? _Olette blinked, her expression going blank. _Wait, Tifa…?_

She had definitely heard that name before. She had heard it through the student grapevine. The girl was rather infamous in Dusk High, numerous rumors revolving around her. Tifa was a senior who everyone knew as a juvenile delinquent. Olette had heard many bad things about her, like how Tifa was in a gang, and how she liked to drink and do drugs. Olette wasn't sure if those rumors were true. But she did know that Tifa really was a juvenile delinquent. She had seen Tifa tag several buildings around Twilight Town before. Whether or not those rumors were made up because someone didn't like Tifa or because everyone was afraid of her, Olette did not know. There was even a famous rumor going around that Tifa was having a 'more-than-friendly' relationship with Olette's gym teacher, Cloud Strife.

_What a horrible rumor._

Olette glanced over at Tifa, making sure she wasn't being obvious. The girl sitting in the desk so close to hers didn't seem like the same girl all the rumors were about at all. Sure, she seemed a little intimidating, but at the same time she looked like she was a nice person. Tifa finally noticed Olette was staring at her and returned the stare with a look of her own. For a moment, Olette winced back in fear of angering Tifa. But then suddenly she flashed Olette a small smile. At first surprised, Olette forced a smile for the senior girl before turning away.

_She doesn't __**seem**__ like a bad person._

Mr. Jack Sparrow had fallen back asleep, snoring loudly from his spot behind his desk. Olette smiled anxiously at the teacher every time he snored, wondering just how much rum (that is, if the alcohol in question _was_ rum) he consumed. After what seemed like an eternity of silence and snoring, Tifa turned halfway in her seat to give Olette a side-glance. The green-eyed brunette couldn't help but notice the grin trying to creep its way onto Tifa's face.

"Did you two get detention because some teacher caught you making out?" Tifa finally asked, failing to control her grin.

Olette cringed with her jaw hanging open from disgust. She could feel her stomach churning in nausea. Roxas snapped his head up and looked over at Tifa, the repulsion vivid on his face. They both looked like they were ready to heave.

"That's disgusting!" Roxas yelled. Surprisingly, Mr. Sparrow didn't wake up.

"Sorry I asked," Tifa laughed as she faced the front of the classroom once more.

"What about you?" Olette inquired. "Why did you get detention?"

There was a moment of silence before another grin appeared on the senior's face.

"I kicked a boy where it hurts," Tifa answered. She glanced over at Roxas and smiled mischievously. He fidgeted in his seat uncomfortably, almost able to feel the pain already. The sight of his squirming made Olette giggle.

_I don't care what the rumors say. I like her._

"My name's Olette," she introduced as she held out her hand, all smiles. Tifa looked back at her with an arched eyebrow. After staring at Olette's stretched out hand for some time, she smiled and clasped her own hand with it.

"Tifa." The handshaking lasted for a few seconds.

Roxas groaned from his seat, clearly not happy about Olette making friends with the seemingly scary girl.

Another twenty minutes had passed by ever so slowly. Detention seemed to last for an eternity. Tifa had pulled out a pocketknife and began scratching obscenity into the wooden desk she sat at. The scratching of the knife joined in with the cacophony of snoring coming from Mr. Sparrow. Olette pulled out Mr. Xigbar's homework and started on that. Roxas stared out the window, watching life pass by as the seconds on the clock in the back of the room ticked away. Every so often he would throw wads of crumpled up paper at Olette, to which she would look up and glower at him momentarily before returning to her geometry homework. Tifa sighed loudly and slammed her head on her desk. She was clearly tired and ready to go to bed. Roxas turned away from the window and leered at Olette, supporting his head with his propped up arm. The emerald-eyed brunette could feel what was coming next.

"By the way Olette," Roxas goaded. "If you're lucky, you might get to watch me undress a _second_ time tonight."

Olette snapped her pencil in half, looking straight up from her homework and staring blankly into the void. She had finally had enough of this. Olette lunged over Tifa's desk, and pounced on Roxas. She tackled into him and knocked him to the floor. There on the floor, Olette wrapped her slender fingers around his neck and began strangling Roxas. The clatter of chairs and the shouts and yelps of the teens caused the detention teacher to wake up from his deep sleep.

"What the devil is going on?" Mr. Sparrow yelled. He jumped up from his chair and looked around the room frantically.

"Olette went homicidal and is now currently trying to kill this boy," Tifa explained calmly as she pointed down at the two sophomores, both still struggling on the tile floor.

"Dear God, child! Get off the poor lad!" Mr. Jack Sparrow shouted as he hurried away from his desk over to the two and tried to pry Olette off Roxas. His attempt was no use, though. Tifa got up from her seat and cleared her throat. Mr. Sparrow backed off at once, realizing what was going to happen. Tifa grabbed Olette by the collar of her button up shirt and lifted her off Roxas with ease. He gasped for breath once he regained feeling in his neck.

"You… you psychotic bitch!" he breathed.

"Let me at him!" Olette screamed as she flailed her arms around in an angry frenzy, trying to get out of Tifa's grasp. "Just let me kill him!"

Despite what had taken place, the detention teacher casually looked up at the clock on the wall. Not even all the rum in the world would make the pain of detention go away for him.

"Detention is over. You three can go," Mr. Sparrow dismissed, shooing the teens away with one hand and rubbing his temples with the other.

Roxas grabbed his backpack and sprinted out of the room before the demonic green-eyed brunette had another chance to attack him. Olette staggered to the doorway of the classroom, supporting herself against the frame of the door. Not even she could believe she lost control like that. Olette allowed herself to groan aggravatingly.

_At least that'll teach Roxas his lesson!_

Tifa ambled out of the detention room, pausing by Olette's side. The sophomore glanced up only to see the senior girl grinning down at her. Tifa patted Olette on the back victoriously, using enough force to cause Olette to stumble forward slightly.

"Damn, girl! You were crazy!" Tifa laughed loudly, slapping the sophomore on the back again.

Olette sheepishly smiled. "I didn't mean to lose it like that back there."

Upon hearing this, Tifa shook her head. Her dark hair fell onto her face when she did so. "You need to let people know you won't take crap from anyone. Make them respect you," Tifa elucidated. Olette stared up at the senior for a moment before smirking.

"You're right, Tifa."

° ˚ • ◊ • ˚ °

It had been an excruciatingly long day of school, but Olette finally made it back home in the evening. After what had been an awkward conversation, she finished up her dinner and ascended into her bedroom. Her parents weren't very happy that she had earned herself after school detention, but let her off easily anyway. Olette failed to mention that part about how it was all Roxas' fault, but only because Luxord and Aerith wouldn't listen to her either way. Once in her bedroom, she made sure her curtains on her window were closed. She didn't want to unexpectedly watch Roxas get undressed again. Repeating the events of the night before would not be good for her, especially if Roxas found out again. Her computer pinged from its spot on her desk. Olette made her way over to the computer only to see Selphie had instant messaged her.

**SelphieGirl:** _Olette?_

**Emerald Eyes:** _What the hell do you want?_

**SelphieGirl:** _Wat is ur problem!_

**Emerald Eyes:** _Nothing, nothing. Never mind._

**SelphieGirl:** _U know…_

**Emerald Eyes:**_ Yes…?_

**SelphieGirl:** _…Roxas is kind of cute._

**Emerald Eyes:** _ARG__!_

**SelphieGirl:** _Sorry. Forget it. It's just…_

**Emerald Eyes:** _Don't say it._

**SelphieGirl:** _U 2 look cute 2gether._

**Emerald Eyes:** _Selphie I—_

**SelphieGirl:** _Really! U do! And—_

**Emerald Eyes:** _Am—_

**SelphieGirl:** _I'm not the only one who thinks that—_

**Emerald Eyes:** _Going to—_

**SelphieGirl:** _U 2 should go out—_

**Emerald Eyes:** _Kill you!_

**SelphieGirl:** _PMS much?_

**Emerald Eyes:** _Come again? ›:-(_

**SelphieGirl:** _Er… never mind._

**Emerald Eyes:** _Hey, do you know Tifa?_

**SelphieGirl:** _The scary juvenile delinquent girl who is in a gang and does drugs and is sleeping with Mr. Strife?_

**Emerald Eyes:** _Shut up. She is not sleeping with Mr. Strife. I talked to her today—_

**SelphieGirl:** _OMG she mugged u! _

**Emerald Eyes:** _No, she didn't mug me! I had detention with her today. She's really cool. I like her._

**SelphieGirl:** _If u say so._

**Emerald Eyes:** _You don't believe me?_

**SelphieGirl:** _I didn't say that._

**Emerald Eyes:** _You know what?_

**SelphieGirl:** _What?_

**Emerald Eyes:** _I'm going to make Roxas' life a living hell._

**SelphieGirl:** _U do that. Hey, I G2G._

**Emerald Eyes:**_ All righty. Bye then._

Olette logged off her computer, sighing all the while. Her eyes slowly trailed over to her window, as she remained sitting in her revolving chair. She was washed over with the sudden urge to peek behind her curtain. In all honesty, she was slightly curious as to what she might see. Before she had a chance to do anything stupid, Olette blinked and snapped herself back to reality.

_The hell?_

She ignored the urge and plopped down on her bed instead. Olette folded her arms behind her head as a substitute pillow and glared daggers at the ceiling looming above her. Just thinking about Roxas angered her deeply. She could feel a low chuckle develop in the back of her throat. The chuckle turned into a cackle, and soon she was laughing evilly to herself.

_I'll make you sorry, Roxas! You messed with the wrong girl!_

Zexion walked by his sister's room, the door being slightly open. He paused in his tracks for a moment. Olette's maniacal laughter drifted out of her room and wafted around her younger brother. He hitched an eyebrow, slightly curious and slightly frightened, before shaking his head in mild disgust.

"She must be on crack," Zexion mumbled to himself as he continued walking.


	4. Just Slightly Confused

**A/N – Edited 8/9/08. A shorter, pointless chapter compared to the rest.**

° ˚ • ◊ • ˚ °

**C** h **a** p **t** e **r** F **o** u **r**

**Just**Slightly**Confused**

A whole week had passed since Roxas came back into Olette's life and turned it into a living hell. It was only Friday, and by now he had found numerous ways to humiliate and torment her. Even after trying to kill him, Roxas was still daring enough to keep up the torture. He would purposely sit behind her in class just to pester her throughout the period. Gym had to be the worst, because of all the balls they were required to throw at each other. It didn't help that Olette was Roxas' favorite target when it came to throwing the balls around. And it didn't help that she was currently in her gym class. Kairi stood on either side of her, also sharing the class with Olette. The fates had so unfairly decided to place Roxas in the exact same physical education class with her as well. Throughout the class, Olette was inwardly groaning and frowning. Her friends did their best to get her to revert back to the cheery Olette they came to know and love.

"Olette, just calm down," Kairi begged, pushing lightly against the brunette's shoulder.

Every student in the class was lined up against the wall of the large gymnasium. Olette glanced towards the end of the line while trying to keep the frown firmly on her face. At the other end stood Roxas. Sensing her glare, Roxas looked up to lock eyes with her. She stuck her tongue out at him. He rolled his eyes and looked away with a frown of his own. The gym teacher entered the gymnasium. The students' gym teacher was known as Cloud Strife. The students watched apprehensively as their spiky haired blond teacher paced back in forth in front of the class, his hair still defying gravity as usual. He kept his graying blue eyes closed, his head hung with his hands intertwined behind his back. Olette watched him, thinking at the same time how he and Leon would get along quite well.

"Today," Cloud began in a quiet voice, "we're playing dodge ball."

All the boys in the class cheered as they pumped their fists into the air, while most of the girls groaned and complained. Olette was not one of those girls. Any other day she would have joined right in with the complaining, seeing as how dodge ball was one of her least favored sports. However, today proved to be an excellent day to get rid of her pent up anger. Olette grinned maniacally at the thought of Roxas being hit hard in the face with the rubber dodge ball. Kairi and Selphie glanced over at her, almost peeing their pants at the sight of Olette.

"Um… Olette? You're kind of freaking me out," Selphie whimpered, recoiling away.

"I agree," Kairi said, though sounding less frightened than Selphie.

Olette did not answer. Instead, she began a series of low chuckling. Kairi and Selphie hitched eyebrows as the chuckling turned into maniacal cackling. Olette even raised her arms into the air and thrust her head back to emphasize all of the cackling she was doing. All the students that were standing near her slowly backed away, stepping over to the side so as to get as far away from the cackling girl as possible. Cloud watched Olette, unamused, with a raised blond eyebrow.

"…Olette, do you need to go to the nurse?" Cloud asked when he finally got over the disturbed feeling of one of his students cackling for no apparent reason.

"What?" Olette finally ceased her cackling long enough to stare at the gym teacher. She blinked and then quickly flashed him a smile. "Oh, no."

"Right…" The gym fell awkwardly silent. "So, the class will be split right down the middle into two teams. Whatever side you end up on will be your team," Cloud explained after the moment of silence ended.

Selphie, Kairi, and Olette ended up on the same team once the class got split into two teams. Olette was delighted on two accounts. One being that she ended up on a team with her friends for once in her life. The other being the fact that Roxas was on the opposite team. Olette went right back to grinning mischievously. She, however, controlled her cackling this time.

_This is perfect. Now I'll be able to throw the balls at stupid Roxas. Yes!_

She also had to control herself from doing a happy dance. The opposite team set themselves up on the other side of the gym. Olette's teammates scattered about on their side of the gym. The brunette positioned herself so that if she got any dodge balls in hand, she would be able to throw them right at Roxas. Cloud placed the balls in the middle of the gym in a straight line. The teens shifted on their feet, preparing for the long battle that awaited them. The teacher blew his whistle, and the violent game of dodge ball began. The balls went flying in every direction, giving off the feel of an ongoing war. They flew like bullets, and high schoolers were going down upon impact.

"Ah! They're everywhere!" Selphie cried as she ran around in circles with her arms waving above her head, trying not to get hit. Miraculously, the dodge balls somehow kept on missing her. By now, tears were on the verge of gushing from her bright green eyes.

"Grow a backbone, will you!" Kairi snapped as she caught a dodge ball that had been thrown at her. She chucked it back at the other side with as much strength as she could muster, a kid yelping from being hit by it. This small victory caused her mouth to form into a smile. "You should be like Olette. See, she's having fun." The two looked over in Olette's direction, only to be hit with a wave of alarm. "Uh, wait, Olette?"

"AH HA HA HA! TAKE THIS!" Olette cackled. She grabbed several balls at once and threw them all at Roxas, one by one. Her arms were nothing more than a giant blur of flailing limbs. Despite her rush of adrenaline and determination to get her revenge, Roxas managed to dodge every single ball she threw at him. Olette had forgotten the tiny detail that Roxas was actually quite the athletic one. Kairi and Selphie could only watched in terrified amusement, blinking as they did so.

"Olette, you need to—AH!" Selphie was hit, the dodge ball interrupting her sentence completely. The light brunette lay on the floor for a moment, regaining her senses. She crawled over towards the benches that the students were supposed to sit at if they got out on all fours. "Ow," she whimpered as she sat down with the other losers.

Olette grabbed a rubber ball near her feet and hurled it as hard as she could. She managed to completely miss Roxas, but ended up hitting another kid out instead. Olette frowned and huffed, not satisfied at all with the results. She had managed to hit everyone else out _but_ Roxas. And quite frankly, it was starting to irritate her.

"Olette, try aiming!" Kairi suggested sarcastically as she threw the ball she picked up at an opponent.

Olette dodged the ball Roxas threw at her, but barely. It zoomed past her face, the air hissing and blowing against her skin. The girl threw another ball at him, hoping that maybe this time she'd get him. But just as the blond was about to get hit with the ball, a girl ran right in front of Roxas and took the hit for him. She was smacked hard in the face with the rubber dodge ball, the sound of the collision echoing throughout the entire gymnasium. She fell to the floor, her whole face red and a dizzy looking spinning around in her eyes. Olette and Roxas stared at the strange girl, making it obvious that they both thought she was a little bit insane.

"No! My precious Roxas will not have his perfect face destroyed by the horrid ball thrown by that wench!" the girl declared dramatically.

Roxas smiled down at her out of embarrassment, forcing it as best as he could. That wasn't the first time a girl acted like that for him. But he had lost count after the fifteenth time. The weird habit of his fan girls was starting to frighten him. The fact of having fan girls itself was frightening. The girl crawled over to where the losers were sitting, whining but melting at the fact that Roxas actually smiled at her.

_You know that girl is definitely in Drama. Wait, what's a wench?_

Roxas hurried over to one section of the gym to grab a ball. Olette hurriedly reached for another one and threw it at him without aiming, hoping to hit him. But, once again, not this time. Instead, Roxas blocked the oncoming flying object with the ball in his hand. Olette gritted her teeth together and frowned darkly.

_Damn Roxas! He's way too good at sports!_

Olette stood in her little spot, fuming with anger. She had made the mistake of no longer paying attention to her surroundings. So it was no wonder she was completely unaware of the dodge ball that was flying right towards her at lethal speeds.

"Olette! Look out!" Kairi shouted with a gasp somewhere in her voice. Her warning was too late, however. The ball Roxas threw hit Olette extremely hard in the head, getting a good portion of her face, too. She fell to the floor upon impact. The last thing she saw before her vision went completely black were the blurred figures of her teammates hurrying over to her.

"Wow… it's getting… dark…"

° ˚ • ◊ • ˚ °

"What the…?"

Olette flickered her eyes open. What had woken her up was the pounding headache drilling its way into her head. She also had the strange feeling of being light, like she was floating on a cloud. Either that or someone was carrying her. A light breeze blew against her as if she were running at top speed. The sounds of someone running and wheezing for breath surrounded her completely, and she could feel a pair of softly defined arms holding her up in the air. All the drowsiness she was previously feeling vanished from Olette when she realized she was in Roxas' arms, being carried bridal style.

"The hell?" she shrieked, squirming slightly in his warm grasp out of surprise. Roxas ignored her attempts to break free and hurried through a door, not even giving her a glare. He had entered the nurse's office with Olette still secured in his arms.

"Hello?" Roxas called. No one answered, making it obvious that the nurse wasn't there.

"What's going on?" Olette demanded, her voice still high pitched. Roxas looked down at her annoyingly. Rather than answering her, he trudged over to the small bed in the room and carefully put her down. Olette looked up at him like something was very wrong with the blond; if anything, it would have been more normal had Roxas carelessly thrown her onto the bed. "And why does my head hurt like a bitch?"

The blond resisted the urge to make a comment on how maybe because she was one, only because her being in the nurse was his fault in the first place.

Roxas rubbed the back of his neck and looked away from Olette. She noticed the look of slight embarrassment on his face. "I threw the ball at you a little _too_ hard," he explained.

Olette's sore face stung as she began to remember the pain that she had endured when the ball hit her. Her face still felt tender from the attack of the lethal ball. There was no doubt that a red mark was still visible on her sun-kissed face.

"A little?" she snapped. Before she could go on, realization hit her suddenly. "Wait. Did you carry me all the way from the gym to the nurse's office?" Olette asked him.

That was when the tiny room fell uncomfortably silent. Roxas stared up at the ceiling, almost as if he was embarrassed. He refused to look down and make eye contact with the brunette. "Maybe I did. So what?"

Olette raised a skeptic eyebrow. "Did Mr. Strife force you to?"

"No."

The brunette continued eyeing Roxas, looking for any signs of temporary insanity. Her intent staring caused the blond to scowl down at her, crossing his arms as he did so.

"Then why did you? Wait a minute, is this some sort of trick?" Olette deducted.

"What?" Roxas inquired, sounding alarmingly outraged. His scowl seemed to darken at the accusation.

"It's gotta be!" Olette exclaimed, sounding proud of herself. "You're trying to trick me! But let me tell you something, Nohart! Just because you tried to trick me into thinking you were actually nice enough to carry me to the nurse's office, this war isn't over!"

"You're really pathetic!" Roxas argued, a sarcastic laugh distant in his voice. He went from scowling to smirking. Olette narrowed her eyes at him, glaring daggers into the blond. He had some nerve, calling her pathetic!

"Hey!" she snapped aggravatingly.

For a moment, Roxas' eyes trailed back up to the ceiling as he continued smirking. Much to Olette's surprise, he glimpsed back down at her and gave her a genuine smile.

_For once it's not a smirk!_

"War, huh? All right, G.I. Jane, if you say so. I'm not letting my guard down either. You strangle pretty hard," Roxas joked as his smile reverted back into a smirk. Olette frowned up at him. Nothing annoyed her more than his arrogant smirk. He ignored her dirty look and turned back to the door. Before heading out and leaving the brunette alone, he paused at the door and turned back to Olette and said, "Rest your head for a little bit. I can't believe you actually passed out!" With that said, Roxas left Olette alone to rest.

The only thing that caused the green-eyed brunette to frown again was when she heard Roxas cackle somewhere down the hall, "What idiot blacks out from being hit by a ball?"

Olette screamed infuriatingly to herself as she thrashed her arms up and down. There was no doubt in her mind that her scream was quite audible to every other student in Dusk High, no matter which section of the school they were in. At a moment like that, she would have pulled her hair out. But she refrained from doing so. She took a moment to calm down so that she could concentrate on the bigger problem: Roxas' sudden change in behavior.

_This has to be a new tactic of his so that I'll let my guard down. Yeah, that's gotta be it! But then again, maybe he was actually trying to be nice. Weird… He has a nice smile though…_

Olette blinked in surprise several times.

_Wait. What?_

She groaned out loud and flopped onto the bed. The confusion only caused Olette's head to hurt even more. The petite nurse finally returned to her office, quickly scuttling through the open door. It was there she saw Olette on the bed, muttering to herself. She stared strangely at the brunette, curious and scared as to what was going on.

"What's your problem?" the nurse asked.

"Hormones," Olette whined, stretching the word a bit. This only confused the nurse even more so.

° ˚ • ◊ • ˚ °

Lunchtime had finally arrived and gave Olette the break she was craving. Instead of sitting inside the lunchroom with the majority of her friends, she had decided to eat outside with just Hayner and Pence. The three of them sat outside on one of the concrete benches that were scattered about on the school campus. It certainly wasn't as loud as it would have been in the cafeteria. Even though it was lunch, it wasn't as crowded outside as the brunette girl would have expected. Olette figured she would be able to relax and clear her cloudy mind with a smaller group. However, the brunette was unable to enjoy her lunch. She ended up sighing and hanging her head.

"What's up with you?" Hayner questioned. He poked her repeatedly in the shoulder to get some sort of reaction out of her. Usually, this would have annoyed her and resulted in her punching Hayner right in the face. But instead, Olette only shrugged as a response.

"She's been sighing like that all day," Pence said, sounding exasperated. He folded his arms behind his head and leaned back in the bench, sliding down it a bit. He craned his neck and stared up at the sky. The blue was slowly changing to the usual orange sky now that it was getting later.

"Something on your mind?" Hayner asked as he continued poking Olette in the shoulder. She finally groaned when he did this. At least getting a reaction meant she wasn't completely off today.

"It's nothing…"

"Boy trouble?" Hayner gasped excitedly, pulling off a fake lisp. "Spill girlfriend!"

Upon saying this, he and Pence scooted uncomfortably closer to Olette to the point where she might have suffocated. They leaned in close to her so that she wouldn't be able to miss the vivid excitement in their faces. Of course, they were only faking interest in her girly problem, but since she had them cornered she decided it was best to just tell them what was on her mind. Before Hayner and Pence had a chance to escape, she verbalized her thoughts.

"Roxas confused me today," she complained in a whiney tone, her eyes flickering up to the sky. "One moment he's being a complete jackass and then the next he's all nice and stuff. He's just being… confusing and stuff." There really was no other articulate way for her to describe it. Hayner and Pence glanced at each other quickly.

"Right, it's Roxas," Hayner commented under his breath as he looked at the ground.

Olette looked down at him, hearing his comment clearly. Suspicion made its way onto her face. Hayner winced back and forced a grin for her when he noticed the dark look he was getting from her. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Hayner began to speak, "I'm just saying, I think you—"

"Yo, Olette!" Tifa called from the distance. Olette glanced up to see the senior girl waving frantically at her. Pence and Hayner stiffened at the sound of Tifa's voice. They knew about that senior all too well. The very sight of her caused Hayner and Pence to completely freeze in fear. Tifa jogged up to where the three of them were sitting, under a tree in its shade.

"Hi, Tifa."

"It's­­—it's—it's—" Hayner stammered, staring up at Tifa in fear. He had a limp finger pointing at her, trembling, and was curling up into a ball on the bench. Because of all the rumors, everyone treated Tifa like so. Including Olette's two best friends.

"The juvenile delinquent!" Pence gasped, quickly pointing up at the senior for added dramatics.

Tifa smirked devilishly down at the two. "Boo."

"AAAHHH!" both Hayner and Pence screamed simultaneously. They fell off the bench after flailing around for a moment. Both their faces turned pale afterwards and the trembling continued. The two boys began rocking back and forth on the ground, trying to regain the little shred of sanity they had.

"You hang out with some weirdoes, Olette," Tifa scoffed goodheartedly.

"I know. I know," Olette sighed in agreement. She shook her head in shame, a look of disgust obvious on her face. Sometimes, she worried about her two best friends.

"Anyway, today is Friday. So I thought we could hang out," Tifa suggested with a smile. "I have a car, so we can go anywhere in town. What do you say?" She casually stuffed her hands into the pockets of her required pants. Olette beamed at the offer and sat up straight.

"Sure. Sounds like fun!"

"Sweet. See you after school then," Tifa said to the brunette over her shoulder as she strolled off. She waved at Olette, which the brunette sophomore gladly returned with a wave of her own.

"You're friends with her?" Hayner gasped loudly as he tremblingly climbed back onto the bench. Pence soon followed after him. The two sat on both sides of the girl once more. Though, their faces still lacked the color Tifa had scared out of them. Olette nodded as a reply.

"But… why?" Pence couldn't help but ask, his voice cracking in fear.

Olette frowned at their reactions. That was when she began her rant without so much as stopping for a breath. "You guys don't know who she really is. She's actually pretty cool, and not at all like the rumors say. Well… she is a juvenile delinquent, but she actually doesn't do drugs or… well, she told me she'll sneak a few drinks here and there, but still! And she _is not_having a relationship with Mr. Strife."

"But… she's scary," Hayner whimpered with a slight shudder. He shifted his eyes around, as if trying to look for Tifa. He brought his shaking, curled up hands to his face and hid his face behind them. Olette gave a roll of her green eyes, then pushed Hayner off the bench. He landed flat on his rear end once more that lunch period.

° ˚ • ◊ • ˚ °

The last bell of the day signaled the end of school. Quickly, Olette stuffed her books into her locker and left Hayner and Pence by themselves without so much as bidding them goodbye. She even shoved students out of her way just to get out of the school. Excited, Olette jumped off the school's front steps near the entrance. She scanned the school campus for a brief moment before spotting Tifa sitting on a small concrete bench. Olette grinned and quickly hurried over to the senior. Tifa looked up when the sophomore approached her and smiled.

"It's about time!" Tifa chuckled, springing to her feet. Olette jumped back at the sudden action. "Come on, let's go!"

Tifa wrapped her hand around Olette's tiny wrist and dragged the poor girl behind her with a sudden yank as she broke out into a run. By the time they reached the school's parking lot, it felt like Olette's arm was about to fall off. Now she personally knew that Tifa had the strength to yank off about anything she wanted to. That was including unsuspecting victims' arms. The two came to a stop in front of a sleek car. Tifa's car was a black convertible, the sunlight glinting off the car's paint. The convertible seated only two people, and the top was currently down. Olette gawked at the car for a moment while Tifa beamed proudly with her hands on her hips.

"Whoa! Tifa, your parents must be loaded!" Olette exclaimed as she looked up at her senior friend, feeling slightly jealous. She had made the assumption that it was Tifa's parents who bought her the car, and not Tifa herself.

The senior girl laughed. "What? This thing? I stole it awhile ago."

Olette's eyes widened to double their size in surprise. The reaction caused Tifa to laugh loudly again. The green-eyed brunette assumed that since Tifa was laughing she must have been joking. At least, Olette was _hoping_ Tifa was joking. Olette joined in with Tifa's laughing, chuckling nervously with the senior.

"No, you're right my parents are loaded," Tifa admitted once her laughing died down. "They bought this for me saying they didn't want me driving around in a piece of crap. It's not like they ever buy me nice things though," she scoffed as she yanked the driver's door open and sat behind the wheel. Olette thought the convertible was a pretty nice buy, but decided not to argue with Tifa. Instead, she got into the passenger's seat and put on her seatbelt.

Tifa backed up the car and pulled out of the parking lot, driving the convertible at what had to be an illegally fast speed. Olette was starting to think that maybe getting into the car was a bad idea. They drove around town for a while, talking about whatever came to their minds and Tifa terrorizing the residents of Twilight Town with her speedy driving. Olette found out Tifa was actually a very humorous person. She liked poking fun at all the rumors about herself. And she also liked making jokes about the people she almost ran over with her convertible. The brunette sophomore was trying her hardest to survive Tifa's driving. She decided to walk home afterwards instead of having the senior drive her.

"I'm hungry," Tifa suddenly said as she sharply turned the curb. Olette clutched the dashboard in front of her for support so she wouldn't slide around uncomfortably in her seat. "Let's go somewhere to eat."

"All right, " Olette squeaked when Tifa didn't stop at a stop sign. "That sounds like a great idea!" Honestly, she just wanted to get out of the car.

After running several red lights, almost crashing into a few cars, driving onto the sidewalk a couple of times, and almost running over some innocent bystanders, Tifa pulled up to a café. She parked the car in an empty spot in the café's small parking lot. The senior pulled the key out of the ignition and looked over at Olette. The brunette was trembling and staring ahead into the abyss with her eyes practically popping out of their sockets. Olette's once sun kissed skin was now pale and she was digging her fingernails into the leather of her seat. Tifa curiously poked Olette. The sophomore yelped and jumped up where she sat. Gasping for breath, Olette snapped her head around and looked at Tifa.

"Are we going inside or not?" Tifa asked, pointing at the café in front of them.

Olette sighed heavily, almost in relief. "Uh… yeah… Sorry."

The two got out of the car. Olette assisted Tifa in pulling up the convertible's top. While Tifa was locking the top in place, Olette glimpsed back over at the café. Her face lit up at the sight of the familiar building.

"Hey, I come here with Hayner and Pence all the time!" Olette exclaimed as she turned back to her senior friend.

"I come here a lot, too," Tifa told Olette when she popped up out of the car. She once again dragged Olette behind her, kind of rag dolling her into the café.

As soon as they stepped into the place the pleasant aroma of coffee danced around Olette temptingly. The sound of other people mingling filled her ears. The café was a popular place for teenagers, which were the café's most common customers. It was a small dim lighted building. It had a small stage for some local garage bands to play on. The stage had several track lights at the top to light it up. Because of the convenient stage, the café also had karaoke nights. Along the walls of the café were vinyl-covered booths with a single light hanging above each booth. There were also tables in the middle of the place for people to seat themselves at. In one corner of the café were two comfy couches surrounded by potted plants. Near the couches was a single pool table with all the accessories included. Olette looked up at the stage only to see some people playing music on it. The two girls went up to the counter over on the left side of the café.

"Hi, Tifa. What would you like?" the woman behind the counter asked with a warm smile when Tifa and Olette approached the counter. The woman had short brown hair that hung above her shoulders. Her eyes were multi-colored, one blue and one green. She was also sun kissed, lightly tanned like Olette. The woman barely reached Tifa's height, short by just a few inches. She leaned against the counter with her arms folded on top of it.

"Hey, Yuna," Tifa greeted with her usual casual tone. "I'll just have some coffee." She pulled out her wallet from one of her pockets to pay for the coffee.

"And your friend?" Yuna asked, gesturing towards Olette with a flick of her head.

"Um, coffee is fine," Olette answered awkwardly. Usually she would have gotten something else, but if Tifa was getting coffee she might as well have too. The strong smell of coffee gave her a weird craving for the beverage anyway. Yuna nodded and commanded a few of the employees behind her to make the drinks from over her shoulder. Olette and Tifa waited near the counter.

"You know her?" Olette inquired, looking up at the taller girl.

"Yeah, Yuna and I are friends," Tifa told her. She crossed her arms over her chest and leaned against the edge of the counter with her back. Olette was about to keep the conversation going when someone completely interrupted her.

"Well, well. If it isn't Olette Gainsborough," the sickeningly familiar voice snickered.

Eyes widening from outrage, Olette whipped her head up to get a glimpse of the person referring to her. She knew exactly who it was, but she didn't want to believe it. Sitting on top of the counter, his legs dangling over the side, was none other than Roxas. He smirked down at Olette, enjoying her angered reaction simply by looking at him. She jumped back and pointed at the blond, her face becoming expressive.

"I can't believe it!"

"Hmm?" Tifa looked up at Olette after snapping out of her peaceful trance. She followed the finger the brunette sophomore had pointed at Roxas. He quickly nodded at Tifa before returning his smirk back at Olette.

"First, you invade my neighborhood, then my school, now the place I like to hang out at!" Olette snarled as she kept her finger pointed at Roxas. She raised her voice so he could hear her over the noise of the music being played. He chuckled evilly, flicking his head to get his golden bangs out of his eyes.

"Can't get enough of me, can you?" he ribbed, leaning back and supporting his weight on his arms. The very comment made Olette grit her teeth together. She noticed the warmth that rushed to her cheeks, but she told herself it was because he infuriated her.

"Shut up!" Olette snapped. She huffed and brought her arms to her sides. She raised her shoulders so that they were up to her jaw and pouted up at the blond. All the while, Tifa watched in amusement. "What are you doing here?"

Roxas jumped off the counter and landed next to her. He flicked his bangs out of his eyes again and sent a smirk at Olette. She narrowed her eyes at him, his high and mighty attitude annoying her beyond belief. Roxas crossed his arms and tilted his head to one side, keeping his smirk.

"What does it look like I'm doing?" he responded. There was a hint of taunting in his voice that he didn't try to hide. "Getting some coffee, duh. It's called a café for a reason."

Olette's face reddened from both anger and humiliation. There he went again, mocking her mental stability. Tifa sensed Olette preparing herself to punch Roxas right in the nose and cut in before any violence erupted in the café.

"Hey, I remember you from detention," Tifa said, stepping between the two sophomores and acting as a shield for Roxas. "Olette almost killed you," she laughed. Roxas turned his attention to the tiled floor and muttered something angrily to himself at the mention of this. Obviously, he didn't like to be reminded about how Olette almost strangled him to death.

Roxas decided he had wasted enough time tormenting Olette and pushed past her to the cash register Yuna stood behind, purposely bumping into the brunette sophomore as he did so. Olette growled and continued glaring darkly at him. Bumping into her only frustrated her more. What she wouldn't give to have the opportunity to deck him right in the face. Unfortunately, that opportunity wasn't now. Roxas crossed his arms and looked at Yuna annoyingly, pouting.

"Hey, lady, where's my coffee?" Roxas demanded haughtily. "I've been waiting forever!"

"Little boy, if you don't change that attitude of yours, you will get no coffee," Yuna answered sweetly through gritted teeth while forcing a smile.

Roxas' pout deepened, but he let the subject drop. Instead, he turned back to Olette. When they locked eyes he glowered at her, which she gladly returned with her own glare.

"Are you still here?" Roxas spat, looking Olette up and down. "I guess I can't blame you for stalking me. You are a perverted enough girl to watch me get undressed. Why not stalk?"

"Are you still thinking about that?" Olette snapped, stomping her foot. The mention of the whole incident caused her face to glow bright pink. The sight of her blush caused Roxas to snicker evilly to himself. But instead of making another rude comment, he accepted his coffee from Yuna and brushed his way past Olette. "And I am _not_ stalking you!" She watched him walk out the door of the café. Once he left, she felt the peace and balance return to the café.

"Don't worry, Olette. I watch people all the time, too," Tifa casually confessed as she took a sip of her own coffee. Blinking, Olette glanced up at her friend. An awkward moment of silence passed over the two as Tifa only continued drinking her coffee. In the end, Olette only slowly shook her head, not really sure how she felt.

"Let's just get out of here," she grumbled to Tifa as she headed for the exit, now with her own coffee in hand.

° ˚ • ◊ • ˚ °

Olette and Tifa were in the park now, sitting on the swings and swinging in the light breeze that passed through the park. The park was covered in luscious green grass. Leafy trees sprouted out of the ground and provided shade for anyone who came to the park. Near the swing set was a jungle gym, and not too far away from the jungle gym was a sand box. There was also a separate slide made out of metal. It was currently vacant, all the little kids at home instead of playing at the Twilight Town park. The sky hung above them, painted with orange and light red colors. Coming to the park was Olette's request. She needed a peaceful atmosphere that would get her disgruntled mind off of Roxas, and the park was the perfect place.

That is, until a couple of little kids came over and started yelling at her and Tifa.

"Hey, lady! Get off the swings! We wanna play on 'em!" the leader of the group of little kids demanded. He stood in front of the two high schoolers defiantly, his fists on his waist and his chest pumped out. While Olette found this amusing, Tifa gave all the children a dirty look.

"How about I stick my foot up your ass instead?" Tifa snapped angrily. Saying this caused the little kids to run away, crying. Tifa returned to swinging with a satisfied smile on her face. Olette, however, stared at the senior like she was insane.

"Tifa, that was kind of—"

Tifa glanced over at Olette out of the corner of her eye with an expression that indicated she should shut up. The emerald-eyed brunette quickly looked away and started whistling innocently.

"You know, if Roxas was two years older and several feet taller, I'd do him," Tifa said out of the blue as she craned her neck and stared up at the sky uncaringly.

Olette almost chocked on air, the blunt statement alarming her. She flailed her arms to keep her balance, but ended up falling off her swing. She landed in the dirt on her rear end. She swiftly looked up at Tifa with her jaw hanging wide open.

"YOU'D WHAT?" Olette shrilled, her voice cracking as it went high pitched.

This reaction caused Tifa to laugh so hard, she had to clutch her sides in fear of them splitting open.

"Don't worry," she said through a series of giggles. "I don't steal my friends boys. Besides, I was just joking."

Olette tilted her head in curiosity and quirked an eyebrow. "Which one of your friends like Roxas?" she questioned, still lying in the dirt.

_Does Tifa even HAVE any other friends?_

Tifa looked down at Olette with a skeptic expression. She placed her hands on her waist, wrapping her arms around the chains of the swing so as to not fall off. The two girls stared at each other for a long moment in silence. Olette didn't catch on to the implication at all. It took about a minute for her to finally get it.

"Wait. You mean… me?" Olette gasped, completely outraged by the very thought. She shook her head and thrashed her arms about, the brunette trying to defend herself. "Ew, Tifa!"

"Ah, in denial love," Tifa chuckled as she craned her neck and glanced back up at the sky. She dug the heels of her feet into the dirt and pushed herself back in her swing. Olette jumped to her feet and pouted down at her older friend. Her face was burning red by now, but she was unsure as to why.

"That's not funny!"

"Why don't you just admit it, Olette?"

"Admit what? There is nothing to admit! Now I wish to go home!" Olette demanded in a huffy tone, stomping her foot. She had forgotten that she didn't want to get back into any car Tifa was driving.

"You're trying to avoid it, but you know deep down you're attracted to that Roxas kid," Tifa teased while pointing an accusing finger at Olette.

Her face turned into a darker shade of crimson. Olette huffed and stuck her nose in the air. She crossed her arms over her chest and pouted up at the orange sky. Tifa snickered from where she sat in her swing.

"Nuh-uh! No way!" Olette denied. "I am not in love with…" Her voice trailed off unexpectedly. She glimpsed down and saw Tifa staring up at her. Once again, they exchanged another moment of silence. That moment of silence was uncomfortable on Olette's part.

"Yes?" Tifa asked in a singsong tone with a smirk.

"Oh, just shut up!" Olette snapped as she plopped back down in the dirt with her arms crossed and a childish pout on her face.


	5. Not So Much Fun in the Sun

**A/N – Edited 8/15/08. This is a brand new chapter that was not in the original version of this story. The original fifth chapter was not deleted, just pushed back. Apologies for the writer's lack of knowledge in surfing terms. Take a guess at who the three surfing judges are supposed to be replicas of…**

° ˚ • ◊ • ˚ °

**C **h **a** p **t** e **r** F **i** v **e**

**Not**So**Much**Fun**in**the**Sun**

**Deepest Desire:** _Come on Olette! It'll b fun!_

**Emerald Eyes: **_I don't know…_

**SelphieGirl: **_If you don't go, Kairi and I will shave all ur hair off in ur sleep._

**Emerald Eyes:**_How convincing. :-P_

**Deepest Desire: **_Olette!_

**SelphieGirl:**_ Olette!_

**Deepest Desire: **_OLETTE!_

**SelphieGirl: **_OLETTE!_

**Emerald Eyes:**_ ALL RIGHT! I'll go to the stupid beach with you. _

**SelphieGirl:** _Yay!_

Olette sighed, hanging her head in defeat. She rested her fingers on her black keyboard. Her computer screen glowed along with the sunlight in her room. She was tired and really wanted to take a nap. It had been a _long_ day. Besides, it wouldn't have been strange; a lot of people took naps in the afternoon. And thankfully, school was over by now. Plus, it was a Friday so she had no homework to worry about. However, Olette made the mistake of getting on her computer. She was ambushed by Kairi and Selphie over IM, where they forced her against her will to go to the Twilight Town beach with them over the weekend. The last thing Olette wanted to do on a Saturday was strut around on the beach in her one-piece swimming suit. Plus, she was much too white to look good in a swimming suit of any sort. No matter how hard she tried she never tanned, only burned. Figuring that if she argued she would only lose the battle, Olette continued typing to her two friends.

**Emerald Eyes:**_ So, why are we going?_

**SelphieGirl: **_Bcuz there's a surfing competition being held at the beach 2morrow and we all HAVE to go see it. Hot, shirtless guys surfing! Who wouldn't want 2 go?_

**Emerald Eyes:**_ Jeez Selphie… -.-;;_

**Deepest Desire: **_Selphie! Ur dating Tidus!_

**SelphieGirl: **_Ur point?_

**Emerald Eyes:** _Anybody else going?_

**Deepest Desire:**_ We asked ur 2 idiots to come. They said ok._

**Emerald Eyes: **_Great…_

**SelphieGirl:**_ Don't worry! Kairi's 2 idiots will b there 2!_

**Emerald Eyes: **_Even better._

**Deepest Desire**_: Now Selphie, unlike Hayner and Pence, Sora and Riku r NOT idiots. So, Olette, wat's got u down in the dumps?_

**Emerald Eyes:**_ What makes you think I'm upset?_

**SelphieGirl: **_Wat part of 'best friends 4ever' do u not understand, Olette? Even over IM, we can tell ur mad, sad, happy, etcetera._

**Emerald Eyes:**_ Well, I'm not mad._

**Deepest Desire:**_ Liar._

**SelphieGirl: **_I second that. LIAR._

**Emerald Eyes: **_Okay, so maybe I'm a little upset…_

**Deepest Desire:**_ Why?_

**Emerald Eyes:**_ Stupid Roxas!_

**SelphieGirl: **_Figures…_

**Emerald Eyes: **_Do you know what he did to me at school today? Arg, that jerk! It's like he takes pleasure in making me mad! One of these days, he WILL pay! Okay, so today he thought it would be funny if—_

**Deepest Desire: **_Ugh. Bye Olette. I'll c u 2morrow._

**SelphieGirl: **_Yeah, I better go 2 b4 u start ranting about your hatred (cough, love, cough) 4 Roxas. BYE OLETTE!_

**Emerald Eyes:**_ Now hold on a minute, you two!_

_**Deepest Desire has logged off.**_

_**SelphieGirl has logged off.**_

"Arg! Those two…" Olette grumbled. She suppressed the urge to slam her head over and over again against her keyboard. Doing that would only break the thing, and she didn't want that to happen.

Sighing, Olette shut down her computer. Her eyes slowly drifted over to her walk-in closet. The girl couldn't help but cringe in her revolving chair. Orange had always been her favorite color. So what color was her one-piece swimming suit? Orange. She pushed the heel of her foot against the floor and spun around in her chair. Maybe orange wasn't the best color to wear at the beach. Olette gradually came to a stop, her eyes landing back on her closet as she did so. What did she care if orange wasn't a good color to wear? It wasn't like she was trying to impress anyone! Scoffing, Olette rose from her chair and headed over to her bed.

"Kairi and Selphie might not like my choice in swimwear," she admitted to herself while plopping down on her bed.

Before she had any more chances to think about her swimming suit, Olette heard noises wafting up into her room through her open window. Curious, she got up off her bed and hurried over to it. She glanced out her window only to see Roxas was trying to heave a heavy bag full of garbage all the way from his porch to the garbage can put out on the curb. He gave the garbage bag one strong tug. Instead of lifting the bag off the porch, however, this only tore a huge rip into the bottom of the bag. All the garbage came out of the bag and fell into a smelly pile on his porch. Roxas yelled angrily and grabbed fistfuls of his hair. Olette snickered to herself and pulled her head back into her window.

"Maybe going to the beach won't be so bad after all," she convinced herself.

° ˚ • ◊ • ˚ °

"Come on, Olette! Hurry up!" Selphie urged with a yank of Olette's arm.

The poor brunette grunted against her friend's tug. She was reluctant to set foot onto the sandy shores of the beach. The three of them had gotten off the train, Kairi informing Olette that they would be meeting Hayner, Pence, Sora, and Riku at the beach. It hadn't taken them long to walk to the beach. And when they made it, Selphie and Kairi quickly changed into their bikinis in one of the changing rooms. However, Olette locked herself inside of the changing room she chose, suddenly feeling self-conscious. It wasn't so much the color of her swimming suit this time, but that fact that she would be the only one among the girls wearing a one-piece. She blamed her odd need to cover herself up completely. Unfortunately for Olette, Selphie forced her way into the changing room and dragged her out into the open.

With one finally tug, Selphie had managed to pull Olette out of the changing room. She stepped onto the sand and tumbled to the ground with a yelp. Olette quickly looked up, now with a mouth full of sand. The salty air stung her eyes, causing her to blink for a moment to get used to it. The air was thick with the scent of the salty ocean, a gentle ocean breeze passing over the entire beach. The sand was a soft yellow color and perfect for making sand castles. The beach was crowded with families playing in the ocean together, teens playing volleyball, and little children trying to make the largest sand castles they could. It was especially crowded today because of the surfing competition that was being held that day. Olette saw a group of boys walk by, each of them holding a surfboard of their own. She yelped suddenly again when both Kairi and Selphie grabbed her by the arms and forced her back up onto her feet. She took a moment to wipe the sticky sand from her chest.

"Sora told me he and Riku were participating in the surfing competition today," Kairi chatted away as the two dragged Olette behind them.

"Hayner is, too," Selphie chirped, all smiles.

"Hopefully he'll drown," Olette mumbled under her breath with a dark scowl set on her face. She was finally given the right to walk on her own. Kairi and Selphie quickly sent her alarmed expressions.

"Has anybody ever told you you're an _amazing_ friend?" Kairi asked sarcastically. Olette only responded by sticking her tongue out at the redhead.

"Oh, girls!" the three of them heard someone call out before them.

The three looked up to see four boys dashing right towards them. Olette instantly recognized the silver hair and the thorny brown hair as Riku and Sora. And on either side of them were her other friends, Hayner and Pence. Sure enough, Hayner, Sora, and Riku clung to their own surfboards. The four boys skidded to a halt in the sand in front of the girls. Hayner looked absolutely excited, along with Sora. Riku had his usual calm demeanor about him. In Pence's hand was a melting Sea Salt Ice Cream he probably got from one of the soda bars on the boardwalk.

"It's about time you three got here!" Sora exclaimed, jumping up into the air. "The judges are going to call our numbers any moment now!"

Olette quickly snuck a glance at the ocean. Some people were surfing along the waves, but it seemed just for fun or practice. Had it been for competition, a huge crowd would have formed by now. She caught sight of the judging table with three judges sitting at it. They had cordless microphones sitting in front of them, and all three judges were clad in beach attire. Two were male while only one of the judges was a woman. Olette returned her attention to the conversation the boys were having with the girls.

"What's the prize if you win?" Kairi asked, tucking a strand of her auburn hair behind her ear.

"A fifty dollar gift certificate to the Twilight Town Mall," Hayner replied with a wide grin. "And that prize is mine!"

"Not a chance," Riku challenged with a smirk. Hayner shot him a challenging look of his own. "I'm winning this competition for sure!"

"Boys, boys," Selphie chided teasingly. "Save your energy for surfing. Besides, you're all gonna lose."

It was then that Selphie earned herself a frown from the three boys participating in the surfing competition. Pence, on the other hand, snickered to himself. He hid his smirk behind his ice cream. Selphie flashed a forced smile for the boys in order to save her own skin. Kairi decided to come to her rescue.

"Besides," the redhead scoffed, "it's not like fifty dollars will get you anything at the mall. Everything is way too expensive."

Hayner suddenly pumped his fist into the air and posed dramatically while holding on tightly to his surfboard. "Your discouragement will not get me down!" he shouted heroically to the sky.

A breeze passed over the group of seven teens, along with an awkward moment of silence. Hayner remained standing still, his index finger still pointed up at the sky while he remained in a charge position. The others stared at him blankly. After a moment, he frowned and regained his normal posture. However, the others refused to remove their expressionless stares from him, only making Hayner feel that much more awkward.

"You never cease to amuse me," Olette finally commented, breaking the awkward silence.

Hayner pouted at the ground. "Shuddup!"

"I still say I'm gonna win!" Sora mentioned with a confident smile. Kairi nodded her head in agreement.

"I say one of those guys are going to beat all three of you," Pence disagreed. He pointed a chubby finger towards a group of surfers twice the size of Riku, Sora, and Hayner. The three gulped upon looking at their competitors.

"Well, good luck with your surfing thing," Olette dismissed. She turned on a single heel and marched away from her small group of friends. The other six stared after her in curiosity as she made her way towards the boardwalk.

"Hold on, Olette!" one of them called after her.

She slowed down a bit when Kairi and Selphie ran up to her side. They forced her to stop completely by clinging to her arms, digging the heels of her sandals into the sand. The four boys caught up to them a moment later. Olette looked down at both of the girls as they took a moment to regain their breath.

"Don't you want to play volleyball with us?" Selphie asked excitedly. "The net's going to be free soon. And the surfing competition doesn't start for a while."

Olette shook her head. "It's too hot to play. I really want a soda."

"I agree," Pence spoke up as he suddenly appeared by Olette's side. The other boys stood behind him, nodding their heads. "A soda sounds good right about now."

"You just had ice cream, though," Riku snickered.

Selphie suddenly pointed towards the boardwalk dramatically, startling the others. She plastered a sort of heroic and cheesy smile on her face as she hollered, "To the sodas! Away!"

With that exclaimed, Selphie dashed off in the direction of the boardwalk, her arms opened out to her sides like the wings of an airplane. The other teens could only stand back and watch in slight amusement and disturbance as Selphie hurried towards a soda bar in the style of an airplane. She almost crashed into several people in the process of doing so. Riku shook his head, but followed after her with his surfboard in hand. Kairi and Sora ran after him. Olette exchanged a quick glance with Hayner and Pence. All they did was simply shrug their shoulders. She trailed after them in silence.

Olette stepped onto the busy boardwalk. From there she had the absolute perfect view of the entire oceanic horizon. The sounds of the crashing waves were also still audible from where she stood on the boardwalk. The boardwalk had mini beach shops lined up all the way down it. Every few shops would turn into some sort of soda bar or restaurant. The shops were teeming with costumers and filled to the brim with beach accessories. There were swimsuits, sunglasses, towels, sandals, umbrellas, and inner tubes galore. Anything somebody needed for the beach, they could find in any shop on the boardwalk. Olette took a whiff of air. She could no longer smell the salt of the sea, but instead cooking fish. She spotted her group of friends huddled up in front of a windowed shop.

"Olette!" Selphie waved for Olette's attention.

"What a cute bikini!" Kairi pointed out to Olette when she approached the other teens. The redhead had her index finger pointed at a bikini displayed behind the window of the beach shop.

Even Olette had to admit the piece of swimwear was cute. Though, she couldn't imagine herself wearing it anytime soon. The bikini was a bit too revealing for her. It was a soft pink color, nothing too overbearing. There were two thin straps on the top part of the bikini. The two pink straps were meant to be tied together behind the wearer's neck. The bottom part was something like flashy lingerie. On each side of the bottom part of the bikini were bows that looked like the straps on the top part. Olette titled her head to one side and took in the image of the bikini. She liked it, but there was no way she was going to buy it.

"How much would Sora and I have to pay to get you to wear that, Kairi?" Riku joked as he elbowed Sora in the ribs. The spiky haired brunet grinned mischievously and tried not to snicker. Kairi stuck her tongue out at the two, clearly not finding the joke all that funny.

Selphie suddenly poked Olette in the side, grabbing the brunette's attention. "You would look cute in that, Olette," she squealed. "It's certainly better than your orange one-piece you always wear."

It was then that both Kairi and Selphie nodded their heads in total agreement.

Olette frowned and placed her hands firmly on her hips. "Are we getting soda, or not?"

Suddenly, the other six took out dollar bills simultaneously. Olette straightened up in surprise. She was even more shocked when every single one of her friends shoved the money into her hands. For a moment, she stared down at the wads of cash in her hands with widened eyes. She glanced up when she noticed her friends leaving her behind.

"Go get us our sodas, will you Olette?" Selphie giggled from over her shoulder as the six of them hurried back onto the beach. Kairi laughed as well, placing both her hands over her mouth as she chased after Selphie.

Olette frowned suddenly with the money still in her hands. "Wait a minute!" she called as the crowd of people shopping continued walking past her. "How am I going to carry all those sodas by myself?"

However, it was too late. The others were already back on the beach, looking for a volleyball net to play with. Olette huffed and scowled, stomping her foot all the while. But instead of complaining about it, she only walked off towards one of the many soda bars. Besides, she already knew how to get revenge on the others. Instead of buying them sodas like they wanted, she was going to buy herself an entire meal with all the money they had willingly handed to her. This formulated plan caused a smirk to crawl onto Olette's lips. She melted into the huge throng of people and continued in her search for a soda bar.

"One soda, please," Olette ordered as she sat herself down at a stool when she finally chose a soda bar to eat at. The waitress standing behind the long, wooden counter turned around for Olette. The brunette's face lit up when she recognized whom the waitress was. "Well, if it isn't Rikku!"

"Hey there, Olette!" the bubbly blonde responded, wiping down a glass.

The short blonde used to baby-sit Olette when she was younger. Rikku always wore her hair up in a messy ponytail style. Her bangs fell onto her face and overlapped her green eyes. She was ivory toned and slender with a round face. On her round face was always a sweet smile. Rikku's humor made up her for scatterbrained ditsyness. It had been a while since Olette last saw the young adult, now that Rikku no longer babysat her. She did, however, know that Rikku was attending Twilight University, the local college in Twilight Town.

"How's it going?" Olette asked happily, smiling for her old babysitter.

"It's going good," Rikku replied as she gave another costumer their soda. "College is going great. And I finally found myself a job!" The blonde gestured to the soda bar she was standing in with her arms, smiling as she did so. Olette quickly glanced up to see the name of the place Rikku was now working at. The soda bar was cleverly, but unimaginatively, named the Ocean View. "And how about you?" Rikku leaned against the counter with her elbow propped up on it, resting her head in her hand.

Olette shrugged. "Could be better."

Rikku tilted her head to one side in confusion. "School not going well?"

"Oh, no," the brunette replied casually as she looked down at one of the Ocean View's menus. "It's fine. The people aren't so great, though." Instantly, Roxas' face came to mind. She tried to control her dark scowl that was begging to appear on her face.

"Ah," Rikku giggled, straightening up. "I know how that is. So, can I get you anything?"

Olette placed her menu down and requested, "One soda. Hm, and a sandwich while you're at it." She smirked, knowing that the others were going to become upset when they found out she used all their money to buy herself a meal.

"Coming right up!" Rikku smiled momentarily for Olette before getting back to work.

Olette noticed just a few other people working behind the counter of the Ocean View. Maybe one day, when she was looking for a job, she would apply there. It seemed like the Ocean View needed a few more employees. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see more people sitting down at the stools of that very soda bar. It seemed like a pretty popular place compared to the other restaurants. Olette waited patiently for her food, swinging both her legs back and forth and tucking her hair behind her ears repeatedly. The ocean breeze made having her hair down difficult. After several minutes, Rikku finally placed a soda down in front of Olette. She plunged a straw into her fizzy beverage and began to happily drink away at it. Her short moment of bliss was shattered by one voice, though.

"You _gotta_ be kidding me."

Olette's eyes shot open. She knew that voice from anywhere. Quickly, she pulled her head away from her soda and looked up at the source of the voice. Sitting in the stool next to her was Roxas, scowling darkly at her. Her jaw went slack and she narrowed her emerald eyes at him. Roxas was holding onto a surfboard, and the only thing he was wearing was a pair of black and white swimming trunks. The choice of color, she guessed, must have had something to do with his black and white checker obsession. Olette tried to keep her eyes on his face, because looking at his almost-completely-unclothed body would only bring back memories of the night she accidentally watched him get undressed and the torment he caused her because of it. Roxas sat with his back to the counter, both his arms propped up onto it. He leaned his surfboard against the counter and continued glowering at Olette.

"What are you doing here?" she hissed at him angrily, tightening her hands into fists.

"What does it look like, idiot!" he snapped, now smirking at her.

"Don't tell me you're entering the surfing competition," Olette growled, returning back to her soda. She coiled her fingers around the glass tightly, just in case she would need to throw all her soda at his face.

"Of course I am," Roxas sassed with venom in his voice. "Otherwise I wouldn't be carrying around a surfboard. Moron."

Olette growled under her breath. If she used any more strength, she was going to shatter her glass underneath the pressure of her fingers. She couldn't stand him, and Roxas seemed even more vicious than usual. And he actually seemed to be enjoying Olette's frustration, which only irked her more. He quickly scanned Olette with his blue eyes, making her suddenly uncomfortable. Roxas smirked with a low chuckle, causing her to return her eyes to him.

"Nice one-piece, Gainsborough," he snickered. Roxas spun around in his stool to face the counter. Olette's face heated up, suddenly feeling ashamed of her choice of swimwear. The last person she needed to insult her one-piece swimming suit was Roxas.

"Yeah, well, anything to keep all eyes off me," she retorted lamely. She groaned inwardly when her comeback only caused Roxas to snicker some more.

"If you say so." That was when Roxas stole Olette's soda right out of her hand. She watched in outrage as he held the straw between his fingers and sipped from it.

"Hey!" she snapped loudly, raising her voice suddenly. "That's mine! And I _drank_ from that straw!"

Roxas' smirk only grew as he continued drinking the rest of her soda. This only caused Olette to scream suddenly, her face turning red from irritation and grabbing fistfuls of her brown hair. While the very scene caused Roxas to laugh loudly, it caused innocent bystanders to whip their heads around and stare at Olette like she had lost her mind. Even Rikku had to look up from the sandwich she was making to see what was going on. When she noticed all eyes were on her, Olette calmed herself down. Her face was no longer red with fury, but tingeing pink from embarrassment. Roxas noticed the patch of pink on her face and couldn't help but snicker again. Olette narrowed her eyes at him until they were nothing more than slits, unable to control her pink flush, while he went back to drinking whatever was left of her soda.

Olette couldn't help but notice how Roxas' golden spikes swayed in the ocean breeze. He was no longer drinking the soda to torment Olette, but simply because the fizzy drink was refreshing. His expression changed along with his motive to drinking the beverage. Roxas' expression softened, and he closed his eyes. As he did so, Olette's eyes trailed over Roxas and absorbed his presence. Unlike the night she had watched him strip, she was now able to clearly make out his features. Though she was reluctant to admit it out loud, she had no problem admitting that Roxas had nice, softly defined muscles in the recesses of her mind. She liked the fact that they weren't overbearing, like he was pumped up on steroids. Roxas legs were long, and just as muscular looking as his arms. Olette was no longer glaring darkly, but intently ogling Roxas like she was trying to study a piece of art. After all, it wasn't every day she got to see Roxas without a shirt on.

Roxas could finally feel the intent stare Olette had on him and opened his eyes. And sure enough, he could see the brunette girl gazing at him out of the peripheral of his vision. Was it just him, or was she trying to hold back the urge to drool? Olette's viridian eyes snapped back to Roxas' blue ones when she suddenly realized Roxas had caught her scanning his athletic looking figure. The familiar feeling of embarrassment sunk in, and once again her face turned a light shade of crimson. Roxas pulled away from her soda and smirked at her, now the one scanning her. He started down at her legs, and his eyes slowly trailed up her figure until he made eye contact with her again. She could feel her face growing hotter, but this time for an unknown reason.

"Like what you see?" he snickered smoothly, not passing up the moment to poke fun at her for actually checking him out.

It felt like her face was on fire, but Olette managed to keep her cool. She narrowed her eyes at him with her jaw hanging open. She looked away with a frown and tried to control her reddening face. She only wished she could stab blushing in the back and murder it. That way her face could return back to its original color.

"That's repulsive!" she hissed derisively, even though inwardly she admitted yes. But only slightly. Rikku finally finished making the sandwich Olette ordered and placed it down in front of her on a plate. Olette picked it up and held it close to her mouth with both hands.

She heard Roxas chuckle to himself, the same evil one he used only with her. "I could very well say the same thing," he responded, his eyes trailing over her a second time. It was then that he grabbed the sandwich right out of Olette's hands. She looked back at him with alarm and was met with his famous smirk. Roxas took a big bite out of her sandwich, just for the enjoyment of harassing her.

First, he steals her soda, then insults her physical appearance, and then steals her sandwich! So far, the trip to the beach had been nothing more than a pile of crap for Olette. And quite frankly, she had enough of Roxas' teasing. Teeth clenched together tightly, Olette brought her fist into the air, ready to punch the smirk off his face. But right as she was about to make contact with Roxas' face, she heard Selphie and Kairi call out to her from somewhere behind her. Her fist stopped a few centimeters short of Roxas' face.

"Olette!" she heard Selphie whine. Olette glanced over her shoulder only to see both of her female friends make a dash towards her. "What's taking so long with the sodas?"

Both Kairi and Selphie came to a sudden halt behind Olette, their eyes landing on Roxas. The brunette stared at the two, curious as to why they stopped so suddenly and were currently staring at Roxas with widened eyes. Kairi and Selphie's eyes trailed over to Olette, and instantly they grinned at her mischievously. She rolled her eyes aggravatingly and turned back around in her stool to face Roxas. The boy tore his eyes away from Olette to look back at Selphie and Kairi. He smirked at the other girls and gave them a small wave.

"Hey, girls."

Selphie and Kairi trotted up to both sides of Olette. They both wrapped their arms around hers and leaned over to smile broadly at Roxas. Olette sighed heavily and rolled her eyes to the sky. This didn't mean any sort of good news for her. Their actions seemed to only feed Roxas' smirk as it grew in size. Clearly, he was taking pleasure in Olette's exasperation.

"Why, hello there, Roxas!" Selphie chimed, giving off her best smile. Olette was ashamed to call the girl her friend.

"Are you going to surf in the competition today, too?" questioned Kairi with a sweet smile of her own.

Roxas nodded his head confidently. "And I plan on winning, too."

"Trying to impress Olette, are we?" Selphie teased. She winked at Roxas, only making Olette's face heat up in irritation. Why couldn't her friends get it by now that the two of them hated each other with a burning passion?

"She wishes!" Roxas laughed, still smirking. He jumped off his stool and stretched his arms above his head. All the while Olette continued piercing her darkest glare into him. The blond grabbed his surfboard and looked back at the girls to smirk once more. "If you girls don't mind, I have a competition to win." He brushed past the three of them, quickly sending a leer to Olette as he did so. "Later, _Olette_," he chuckled wickedly. "By the way, cute bikinis, girls!" he added to Kairi and Selphie, waving to them without turning around to look at the two girls. Olette frowned to herself as Kairi and Selphie giggled.

Olette glanced up at them with anger vivid in her green eyes. "_Why_ are you two giggling like a bunch of horny school girls?"

This comment earned Olette a slap to the back of the head. Courtesy of Kairi.

"Ow!"

"Damn, Olette!" Selphie suddenly breathed excitedly as she glimpsed down at her brunette friend. Olette glanced up at her in sudden alarm. The expression on Selphie's face was definitely a questionable one. "No wonder you watched him strip the other night! Roxas has such a hot body!"

Olette's jaw went slack as her face contorted into an expression of disgust. She couldn't believe that one of her friends actually admitted that out loud, no less in her presence! They all knew she couldn't stand Roxas, and yet they had absolutely no problem throwing compliments his way. Olette gave Selphie her darkest frown as she replied, "Selphie! For the last time, I _didn't _watch him! Well, I did… but not on purpose!"

She looked away with a huff, her face reverting back to a pink color. Selphie and Kairi only giggled some more. They were obviously enjoying Olette's reaction.

"I have to agree with Selphie," Kairi spoke up with a lopsided grin. "Roxas is pretty good looking without a shirt, and I'm not even interested in the kid!"

Outraged and disturbed in one emotion, Olette snapped her head back up to continue glaring at her friends. They only giggled again, both really unable to control themselves. They were only upset that Roxas had to leave. Olette returned to her empty plate, muttering incoherent words to herself.

"You both really _are_ horny," she grumbled to her plate.

Once again, Kairi smacked her hard in the back of the head.

"Ouch!"

While Olette was whining and rubbing her now throbbing head, Selphie and Kairi were secretly scheming a plan together with their eyes. Olette noticed their weird behavior and looked back up at them. When she did so, Kairi and Selphie glimpsed down at her with a couple of troublesome grins. Olette gulped and even inched back in her stool. It was never a good thing when Selphie and Kairi plotted against her. When the two of them put their minds together, it always resulted in some evilly wicked scheme. With Olette as the unfortunate victim, of course. Her two female friends crowded around her, so as to prevent her from escaping from their girly wrath.

"What are you two planning…?" Olette was almost reluctant to ask.

"It's official," Kairi answered as she placed her hands on her hips commandingly. "We're going to buy you that pink bikini we saw earlier."

Olette's eyes widened from slight horror. Oh, well. As long as she didn't have to wear it…

"And you're going to change into it as soon as we buy it," Selphie added with a giggle. Olette's eyes grew even more in size, and she could feel the red color leave her face. "Since Roxas is a bikini kind of guy, and you're wearing that gross one-piece of yours, we're going to pretty you up for him and make you wear that adorable bikini!"

Upon saying this, both the girls broke out into maniacal cackling. Olette recoiled back in fear when the lightning started flashing violently in the background behind Selphie and Kairi. While the other two were distracted with their rather evil cackling, Olette took advantage of this and tried to make a run for it. She jumped off the stool and landed on her feet. Just as she was about to break out into a desperate sprint, Kairi and Selphie both held her back. They clung to her arms as Olette tried squirming her way out of their grasps. It was no use, though. They both had her trapped.

"But I don't want it!" Olette lied, even though the bikini was tempting even to her. "And why would I want to impress Roxas with the bikini anyway? I _hate_ him!"

"Says you," Selphie whispered wickedly, leering like some sort of evil version of the Cheshire cat.

"Roxas won't be able to keep his hands off you when he sees you in that bikini," Kairi giggled as they began to drag their unfortunate victim behind them.

"No! Have mercy!" Olette begged, flailing her limbs as she tried to wriggle out of Kairi and Selphie's grasps. "I _want_ Roxas to keep his hands off me!"

But before she knew it, Olette was already standing inside the beach shop the girls had spotted the bikini in. She couldn't help but shudder in revulsion. The inside of the shop was pink. Not a soft pink that Olette would have no problem with, but a girly pink. And there was even some nauseating teen pop song playing from the speakers above her head. The very abhorrence of it caused Olette's stomach to churn. Hanging on one wall of the beach shop were various bikinis, all different styles. In the back was a rack full of sandals. There were a few towels and swimsuits hanging off racks in the middle of the store. One side of the store had a few beach hats on display, sitting comfortably on mannequin heads. There were three changing rooms in the back of the store right next to the sandal display. Over at the glass counter sat a single cash register with a young woman standing behind it. The shop had a few female customers browsing around among the many bikinis that were on display. Not a single one-piece swimming suit was noticeable in the sea of skanky swimwear. All in all, the girliness of the shop was just too much for Olette to handle. It never helped that she had been more on the tomboy side.

Kairi and Selphie had earned the permission of the woman standing behind the cash register to take the bikini off the window display and force Olette to try it on. The two scampered over to the window elatedly and ripped it off the mannequin. Before Olette had a chance to try and make a run for safety, Kairi and Selphie had her once again in their clutches. The villainous grins on their faces signaled the doom that awaited Olette as they dragged her by the arms to the changing rooms. The three stood in front of one of the changing rooms, Selphie holding the bikini while Kairi held Olette down. With a single shove, Kairi forced Olette into the changing room. Selphie threw the bikini in after her. The two slammed the door shut and held it closed with their backs pressed to it.

"We're not letting you out until you at least try it on!" Kairi called to her through the door.

"Then I guess I'm never coming out!" Olette hollered back aloofly.

"You have to sometime!" Selphie sang. "Especially when you have to go to the bathroom!"

They both heard Olette groan through the door. Kairi and Selphie smirked at each other, knowing they had Olette where they wanted her. The two heard Olette changing out of her icky looking one-piece and into the more adorable bikini. Olette grumbled to herself as she looked at her image in the mirror. Selphie and Kairi could hear the brunette criticizing how the bikini looked on her, not enjoying the sight at all. Kairi sighed and shook her head. Selphie looked at the door with a frown.

"Come on, Olette!" she snapped annoyingly. "I bet it doesn't look bad at all. In fact, you probably look amazing!"

"Shuddup!" came Olette's irritated reply.

Selphie and Kairi smirked again. Maybe they were right about something, and Olette refused to admit it.

"I'm not coming out!" Olette refused from inside her changing room.

"Let us see it!" Kairi demanded. Everyone in the beach shop was giving the girls vexed looks by now, annoyed with all the shouting they were doing.

"No!"

"Olette!" Selphie exasperated.

"No!"

"Olette!" Kairi growled through her teeth.

"All right," Olette sighed in defeat from inside the changing room.

Kairi and Selphie stepped back so as to allow the brunette to come out. The door to the changing room slowly creaked open, Olette extremely reluctant to show herself to her friends. Personally, she didn't like how the bikini looked on her at all. While the bikini itself did look cute, Olette seemed to have murdered it by putting it on. She nervously stepped out of the changing room and stood before her friends, waiting for their words of criticism. Selphie and Kairi gawked at Olette with their jaws hanging open, and their expressions only upset Olette even more. While she thought she looked hideous in the bikini, Kairi and Selphie had different opinions. The swimwear definitely complimented her figure much better than her one-piece. And pink was Olette's color, though she failed to realize this.

"Olette! You look adorable!" Selphie suddenly squealed as she jumped into the air. She had squealed so loudly, everyone in the beach shop glanced over at the three in surprise.

Kairi nodded her head in agreement, smiling. "It looks cute on you."

Olette's eyes flickered down to the carpeted, jade green floor. She pouted, not happy with the results. She had actually been kind of hoping that the bikini looked terrible on her so she wouldn't have to wear it in public. Apparently, that wasn't going to happen.

"I'm not getting it," she rebuffed as she turned back to her changing room to change swimsuits.

"Oh, yes you are," Selphie muttered darkly as she and Kairi suddenly grabbed her by the arms and forced her towards the cash register.

"You're not even going to let me change?" Olette gasped as her two friends plastered her to the countertop so that the employee could scan the bikini for the price.

"So that you could run away before we had a chance to put the bikini on you again?" Kairi replied back rhetorically, sarcasm in her voice. "Not even!"

After Selphie and Kairi had paid for the bikini (Olette was outraged by how much one person had to pay for a bikini) the two hauled her out of the shop and back onto the boardwalk. Olette quickly wrapped her beach towel around her so as to protect herself from any curious eyes. It didn't help her much that, during the time they had spent in the shop, large groups of teen boys had decided to take a break from the ocean and kill time on the boardwalk. Olette held the towel close to her, afraid the soft breeze was going to carry away the piece of fabric. Kairi and Selphie frowned at her when they noticed what she was doing. The two grinned at each other subtly and nodded their heads. Selphie snuck around behind Olette and suddenly held down her arms. Kairi pounced in and ripped the towel from Olette's body. The brunette yelled in frustration when this occurred. Olette was now left exposed to the world.

The ocean breeze kissed gently against her skin, not only her arms and legs but now her midriff. Not only that, but now her cleavage went uncovered. With the bikini on, Olette felt almost completely naked. And she wasn't too fond of that feeling. She could only wonder how Kairi and Selphie ever got used to the feeling. She couldn't help but notice a few boys suddenly glancing her way. When she locked eyes with them they sent her grins and winked. Blushing, Olette quickly looked away from the teenaged boys and tried to snatch the towel out of Kairi's hands. But the redhead was too quick for her and jumped back just in time.

"Don't even try, Olette," Kairi taunted with a smirk of her own.

"And there's no way for you to change back," Selphie giggled evilly, leaning over Olette's shoulder. "Because I threw away your one-piece."

Olette's jaw fell open. "You _what_?"

"Now let's go see if we can find Roxas," Selphie added quickly, ignoring Olette's inquiry. The tinier brunette pushed against Olette's back and drove the poor girl forward. Kairi was close in pursuit of the two, giggling all the while to herself with her hand clasping over her mouth.

"For the last time!" Olette pleaded as the three stepped onto the sandy beach. Selphie was still shoving against her back, not giving her a chance to make a run for it at all. "I don't want to find Roxas! The last thing I need is for him to ridicule me about the bikini!"

"Trust me, Olette," Selphie chuckled mischievously. Olette could almost hear the troublesome grin crawl onto her friend's face. "The last thing he'll be doing is complaining."

Upon saying this, both Kairi and Selphie started giggling to themselves. Olette couldn't help but roll her eyes. That is, until she realized what Selphie meant.

"Wait, what?" she shrilled, her face turning pink for the umpteenth time that day.

Before she had a chance to scream her head off, the two dragged her over to the boys. Sora, Riku, Hayner, and Pence were on the shore, playing with the waves of the ocean that crashed onto the sandy beach. Hayner was kicking up water, trying to get as much salty water as he could into the other boys' faces. When the girls approached them, they were laughing and sending Hayner challenging looks. Off at the side stood their surfboards, sticking up out of the sand. The four didn't even notice the girls' presence as the females approached them.

"Oh, boys!" Selphie sang with what had to be the hugest grin Olette had ever seen. The four boys looked over their shoulders to see what it was Selphie wanted.

"Tell us what you think of Olette," Kairi giggled as the two of them yanked the brunette out from behind them and shoved her forward.

Olette tripped over her own feet and stumbled forward when Kairi and Selphie shoved her. A wave crawled up the shore and washed up against her, flowing over her bare, sandal-wearing feet. She quickly looked up at the boys, suddenly feeling embarrassed and shameful. The last thing she wanted to do was wear a revealing bikini in front of the guys. Especially if those guys were her best friends! And it didn't help much that when she glanced up to see the expressions on their faces, all four of the guys were gawking at her like they couldn't even believe their eyes. Not only that, but she despised the noticeable red color that had taken over Sora and Riku's faces. She narrowed her eyes at the boys when they wouldn't stop ogling her.

"Olette?" Pence finally choked out, unable to believe what he was seeing. He had known the brunette for a long time. But this was a first.

Olette heard Hayner make a gurgling sound, like he was choking. When her eyes flickered to where he was standing, the dirty blond brought his hand to his face and quickly looked away. Was it just her, or were Hayner's fingers covered in blood?

"Hayner!" Sora gasped, finally peeling his eyes away from Olette to see what was wrong with his friend. "Are you having a nosebleed?"

"No!" Hayner lied, trying to control the flow of blood oozing out of his nose.

"That's not funny!" Olette snapped, crossing her arms over her chest angrily. Anything to cover herself up.

Selphie bounced up to the brunette girl's side and leaned over her shoulder, beaming. "You guys like?" Olette's eye couldn't help but twitch.

"We bought it specially for Olette," Kairi butted in, leaning over Olette's other shoulder. "Just to see if it would grab Roxas' attention."

That was when the two smiled at the boys like idiots. Olette stood fuming, contemplating what to do in order to knock their smiles right off their faces.

"Roxas?" Hayner hitched an eyebrow. "Is he even here?"

"Unfortunately," Olette grumbled, pouting in the other direction.

Selphie added, "He's going to be in the surfing competition today."

"Sweet," Riku laughed. "More competition."

Pence couldn't help but scratch his head in confusion. "But if Olette hates Roxas… why would she want Roxas to notice her?"

"It wasn't _my_ idea!" Olette snarled, stomping her foot into the sand. Kairi and Selphie jumped back from her. "They just can't get their heads out of their insane hopeless-romantic-fan-girl clouds!"

"Denial," Riku sang under his breath, leaning down to Sora. He straightened up quickly when Olette pointed her index finger at him. Not only that, but she also sent him a death glare.

"What was that, _Riku_?" she growled under her breath, her eyes changing from green to red suddenly.

"Nothing…" The silver-haired junior forced an innocent smile.

"Stupid surfers," the brunette muttered darkly under her breath, crossing her arms again. She looked away from the group, a dark frown set on her face. "The lot of you."

"Olette!"

The voice called out from behind her at a strident volume. Olette cringed at the singsong voice, instantly recognizing who it belonged to. Hell, she would have preferred it to be even Roxas. Unfortunately for her, the annoying voice didn't belong to the spiky-haired blond. Instead, it belonged to another blond. Seifer Almasy. She shuddered and looked over her shoulder. Seifer, clad in nothing more than a pair of swimming trunks of his own, skipped in her direction. He held onto a surfboard while waving frantically at her and smiling like an idiot. Olette heard the other boys snigger behind her while Kairi and Selphie's faces fell instantly.

"I can't believe you're here today, too, Olette!" Seifer chimed when he finally approached the brunette. She glared at him when he momentarily scanned her. With a smile forming on his lips, he added, "Nice bikini."

"Stare any longer at me," Olette threatened, causing Seifer to flinch back in fear, "and I'll make sure you can never have children."

Saying this caused the four boys standing behind her to break out into loud laughter. Seifer sent them a glare from over Olette, seeing as how he was taller than her by several feet.

"Anyway," the tall blond huffed. "I'm gonna be surfing in the competition today. Gonna watch me?"

Olette stuck her nose in the air. "As if!"

"She's already here with Roxas, anyway," Selphie said with a giggle as she linked arms with Olette.

"Am not!" the brunette snapped as she sent Selphie a glower.

"Roxas?" Seifer repeated, clearly not happy to hear this. "I could so beat that loser in today's competition. Just watch me, Olette!"

And with that said, Seifer bounded into the ocean while clinging to his surfboard. The whole time he walked out further into the water, he waved at Olette to make sure to hold her attention. The brunette grinned to herself, feeling extremely annoyed. She sighed and rubbed her temples. She might as well watch him drown. The others watched as Seifer prepared to surf along with a wave. However, when he stood up on his surfboard, the wave picked up suddenly and crashed down on Seifer. With a girlish scream, he fell off his surfboard and submerged into the water. Olette gasped, Kairi and Selphie snickered evilly, and Hayner, Riku, Pence, and Sora all began chortling among themselves once more. Seifer slowly rose out of the water with several strands of seaweed hanging from his head. He trudged back onto the shore and stomped past Olette.

"Seifer…?"

"I'm going home," he whimpered, sniffling to himself. Before he ran off, Olette noticed him wiping away tears from his eyes. The boys continued laughing like lunatics while she smiled anxiously to herself. Who knew Seifer was so… sensitive.

"Loser," Selphie giggled, stretching out the word. This caused Kairi to join in with the laughing. Olette would have said something if she didn't agree.

The group's moment of laughter was interrupted when they heard a mob of fan girls squeal loudly. They all stopped their guffawing and turned to see what the commotion was about. Olette's jaw went slack as she watched a blond out in the ocean ride the waves like a pro. Standing in a tight cluster on the shore were several girls, all squealing and waving excitedly at Roxas as he continued surfing. He swiveled through the water until he was in the shallow end of the ocean. He hopped off his surfboard and ran back onto the beach. He flicked his bangs out of his eyes and wiped whatever water was left on his face with his free hand. The whole time Olette watched, unsure if she was glaring or ogling again. Perhaps both. The girls instantly crowded around him and gave him praising words.

"Dude! Roxas!" Sora laughed, shooing the obnoxious fan girls away. They brushed past Olette, complaining to themselves. "That was pretty awesome. I didn't know you could surf!"

"I've been able to for a long time," Roxas chuckled, digging the tip of his surfboard into the sand.

"Sora! You're hogging up all of Roxas' time!" Kairi hissed, suddenly grabbing onto the brunet's arm. She tugged him away, dragging him back over to the boys.

It was then that Olette spun on a single heel, expecting what was coming next. She was about to make a dash for safety when she felt someone wrap their fingers around her arm. She yelped when Selphie pulled her back. She caught the diabolical smirk etched onto Selphie's face before being dragged away against her own free will. The short brunette dragged Olette through the sand up to Roxas. When she struggled, Selphie merely gave her a slight shove. This almost caused Olette to crash into Roxas. Before she had a chance to collide, however, he reached out by instinct and grabbed her by her arm. Surprised slightly, Olette swiftly straightened back up with some help from Roxas. For a split moment, the two exchanged baffled expressions with a hint of alarm. These facial expressions were quickly wiped away, only to be replaced by glares.

"Doesn't she look pretty, Roxas?" Selphie chirped, sticking her head out from behind Olette so as to send the blond a wide grin. If she could, Olette would have spun right around and glared Selphie half to death. However, she was much too busy scowling at Roxas.

Running away was out of the question, and would have been useless anyway. Besides, Selphie would have only hunted her down if she did so. With a raised eyebrow, Roxas scanned Olette like he had at the boardwalk. She shifted awkwardly on her feet when her face suddenly heated up. She wouldn't have felt so weird if she knew for a fact that her face was only heating up because of revolting anger. However, she had absolutely no idea why her face was turning red this time. Plus, it didn't help much when Roxas' expression went blank, no longer angry but somewhat serious. His eyes slowly trailed up her long legs, up her middle, and finally rested on her eyes. For a moment, his face was inscrutable. Olette could have sworn she saw a hint of pink appear in Roxas' cheeks, but dismissed it when she realized the color in his face hadn't change. Finally, he smirked down at her with an evil chuckle of his own.

"The bikini is definitely an improvement," he snickered. Roxas leaned down and got close to her face so that she could make out the fine details of his smirk. "Too bad _you're_ the one wearing it."

Olette's eye twitched involuntarily. Her face burned red again, the simper on his face making the situation that much more irritating. "What was that, Nohart?" she snarled as her hands formed into tight fists.

Selphie quickly stepped in, aware that Olette would have no problem punching Roxas' lights out. "Aw, he's just kidding with you, Olette!" The brunette winked at Roxas while leaning over Olette's shoulder. "She even gave Hayner a nosebleed."

Olette flashed a horrified look down at the shorter brunette, her green eyes widened and her jaw hanging open. "Selphie! Why would you tell him _that_?"

Roxas snickered to himself, hiding his face behind his arm. When she noticed this, Olette averted her expression from Selphie to the blond and darkened it. "Hayner must have a terrible taste in girls, then," Roxas said with a leer tugging at the corner of his lips.

Olette's jaw dropped again, but this time from unadulterated outrage. It was official, she wasn't going to hold back on Roxas today. And he had the nerve to laugh at her only when he saw her expression! Before Selphie could see what was coming. Olette brought her arm up into the air with a scream. She quickly prepared herself for a punch and brought her fist forward. Unfortunately for Olette, she wasn't even close to punching Roxas in the face because the surfing competition was starting up again at that exact moment.

"Let's start things back up, folks!" the female judge chirped into her mike, a smile stretching from ear to ear on her face. "And see what these wonderful people have to offer!"

"Yes," one of the male judges droned with his English accented voice. "Let's see what other pathetic, talentless losers think they're good enough to even be called surfers."

"Next up to surf," the second male judge continued into his microphone, "is my homie from the South side, number thirteen: Roxas Nohart!"

Kairi tilted her head to one side, her auburn hair falling over her shoulder. "Homie from the where?"

The beachgoers who had been waiting for the second half of the surfing competition to begin crowded the sandy shores, cheering when the next surfer was announced to show off their skills. They applauded loudly, clapped, whistled, just about everything one would expect an excited crowd to do. Roxas looked away from the judges' table and leered back down at Olette. This only caused her to narrow her eyes so that they were nothing more than slits. Flicking his gold bangs out of his sapphire eyes, Roxas pulled his surfboard out of the sand and tucked it underneath his arm.

"Looks like I'm up," he said, keeping the taunting smirk on his face. "I hope you cheer the loudest for me, _Olette_." The sarcasm was so obvious in his voice, it wasn't even funny.

Olette gave a roll of her eyes, crossing her arms and sighing loudly. "Yeah, yeah, yeah. Just go lose already."

With a satisfied chuckle, Roxas hurriedly took off towards the table the judges were sitting at. Olette would have happily turned around and gone home, taking the long train ride back in nothing more than her brand new pink bikini. This, however, wasn't going to happen seeing as how Kairi and Selphie got their mitts on her again and dragged her back over to where the boys were standing. Olette stood among the crowd with her friends, glancing around to see why everyone thought this was such a big deal. The last thing _she_ wanted to do was waste a perfectly good weekend watching a bunch of guys riding the ocean waves on flat pieces of plastic. She noted that a majority of the crowd was female, most likely fifteen-years-old like her. And when they saw it was Roxas who was up next, they began cheering at the top of their lungs like lunatics until their throats were numb. Olette couldn't help but wonder what was happening to the female species. She remembered back in the good old days when there was no such thing as fan girls. Roxas fan girls, no less!

"And he's off!" the woman judge sang into her mike as Roxas swam out into the ocean. He sat up on his board and waited until the perfect wave came rolling by. "And look at him go! My, he certainly does know how to surf!"

Now, Olette didn't know much about surfing. In fact, she knew absolutely nothing about surfing. But if she had to make a guess, something told her that Roxas was pretty good at it. Maybe even a professional at surfing. He was standing on his surfboard, skimming the large wave at an odd angle. He crouched down and held onto the edge of his board, so as to keep perfect balance. The green-eyed brunette almost gagged on her own tongue when the teenaged girls standing around her squealed an hollered like they were in the presence of a rock star.

_For the love of God, he's not that great!_ Olette groaned when she could have sworn one of the fan girls actually started foaming at the mouth. If that wasn't creepy, she didn't know what was.

Roxas started zigzagging up and down another wave, water splashing all around him. Standing right next to Olette, Selphie and Kairi whooped for the blond. Roxas surfed his way up the wave and did a flip in the air, still managing to keep perfect balance on the board as he did so. He landed back in the water, standing upright. Then he sped across another wave in a slight crouched position with his arms out at his side. The blonde swiftly turned his surfboard around and glided across the top of the wave in the opposite direction.

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but this kid actually has talent!" the English accented judge gasped excitedly into his microphone. "That turn was absolutely perfect! Brilliant!"

"And did you see the way that dawg flipped through the air?" the second male judge exclaimed into his own mike. "He's got some mad skizzles!"

By the time Roxas finished up his surfing, Olette's jaw was hanging wide open. All around her people were cheering so loud she thought her eardrums were going to burst. Roxas ran back onto the shore with his surfboard under his arm and an arrogant, cocky smirk on his face. He shoved past his fan girls and strutted up to Olette, acting high and mighty. Over at the judging table, the three judges gave Roxas a nearly perfect score. The blond placed the surfboard in the sand and leaned against it, still smirking down at Olette. She had to admit that he was a lot better at surfing than she expected him to be. But hell would sooner freeze over before she ever told him that to his face.

"Impressed?" Roxas snickered, noticing all too well the look of outraged astonishment on the brunette's face.

Olette quickly looked away with her eyes narrowed. Crossing her arms, she replied, "Not even remotely."

"You're a very bad liar," said Roxas, the cockiness laced into his every word.

Olette whipped her head back around only to be met with Roxas' smirk, now double in size. She huffed and straightened her posture so as to get to Roxas' height. It didn't help that he was a good foot taller than her. Olette marched up to him and got in his face, jabbing her index finger into his chest as she told him, "Oh, _please_. Anybody could splash around in water and make it look fancy."

Roxas' smirk turned into a frown suddenly. "So you think surfing is easy, huh?" he snapped in a calm tone.

"The easiest," Olette sassed, it being her turn to smile smugly now.

"Well, if you think it's so easy," the blond responded, his voice increasing in volume, "then why don't you give it a try?"

Olette scoffed, her arms crossing over each other once more. "No problem! In fact, I bet you anything I'm even better than you!"

"Fine then," Roxas growled with his darkest look yet. "Prove it."

"I will!" With that said, Olette snatched the surfboard out of Roxas' hands.

The blond jumped back suddenly, surprised that she was actually going through with this. Kairi and Selphie rushed up to Olette's side, previously watching the whole thing take place from afar. Behind them the boys stood back, each of them looking more puzzled than the next.

"Olette!" Selphie gasped. "You can't!"

"You've never surfed before!" Kairi added as Olette was making her way towards the ocean.

"Just watch!" the brunette called over her shoulder, the smirk still visible on her face. "I'll show you all how easy surfing really is!"

Roxas scoffed and looked away, his arms crossed over his bare chest. It had taken him years to perfect his surfing. And if Olette had never even surfed before, there was absolutely no way she was going to show him up. If anything, she would just end up drowning. The sudden thought of Olette drowning snapped Roxas out of his angered stupor. He directed his eyes back towards the oceanic horizon and watched Olette waddle awkwardly out into the ocean, the surfboard tucked under her arm. Both Kairi and Selphie stood beside him, watching their friend with worry swimming around in their eyes. While Olette knew how to swim well, there was no doubt in their minds that she was going to only humiliate herself even further. And that, they knew, wasn't going to end well.

"Next up is—hold on a moment," the English accented judge gasped into his mike. He caught sight of Olette making her way stubbornly out into the water. "It seems there is some brunette girl out there."

Olette ignored everything that was going on around her. That included the shouts and warnings of her friends behind her and the roar of the waves around her. All she concentrated on was showing Roxas that he wasn't the greatest thing around like he thought he was. Behind her, she thought Kairi gave her a warning about being too far out in the water but dismissed it. She bobbed up and down in the water, waiting for the perfect wave. She sat on top of the surfboard and tried to keep her balance. Keeping her balance, however, was a lot more difficult than she thought it would be. When she thought she saw the perfect wave, Olette slowly stood up on the surfboard. And she was off, skimming the top of the wave clumsily. But nonetheless, she was surfing.

Back on the shore, Selphie and Kairi gasped when Olette started surfing. As Roxas watched he couldn't help but admit that for a beginner, Olette wasn't doing half bad. Granted, she was a bit wobbly, but for the most part she was doing decently. However, she was too far out at sea. And this concerned Roxas. Olette continued surfing along the top of the wave, not showing off as much as she would have liked. Unlike Roxas, she was unable to do any sort of fancy trick. Either way, she was happy that she hadn't messed up on her first try. This only proved her point that surfing was easier than everyone else thought. As she smirked to herself, anticipating the look on Roxas' face when she got back on shore, she didn't notice the huge wave coming right at her. Everyone on the beach gasped at the size of the wave. Olette looked up when she noticed the shadow casting down on her, and gasped herself. The wave was well above her head, ready to swallow her up.

Before she had a chance to move out of the way, the wave came crashing down on her. She slipped off the surfboard and went under the water with the long piece of plastic soon following her. Despite the amount of force used when the wave crashed down on her, Olette was fine. That is, until the rush of the water caused her to hit her head against the reef bellow the surface of the water. She had struck her head so hard, that she blacked out. Roxas, Kairi, and Selphie watched and waited for Olette to emerge out of the water. But when she didn't, the three of them grew more worried.

"Why isn't she coming back up?" Kairi gasped, unable to hide the panic in her voice.

"You don't think she drowned?" Selphie squeaked, her hand covering her mouth. "Do you?"

Before the two of them had a chance to ask any more questions, Roxas took off towards the water. He kicked up sand behind him with the speed he was sprinting. He ran out towards the deeper end of the water. With the crowd gasping behind him, Roxas dove head first into the water. He swam around the reef, scanning the underwater area for any sign of Olette. If he found her in time, she was less than likely to drown to death. He wasn't about to let her drown, because it would be partly his fault. And he just wouldn't be able to live with that kind of guilt. Roxas saw his surfboard floating back up towards the surface. A pang of panic went through him, and the blond increased his swimming speed. He swam around a boulder when he finally saw Olette sinking further and further down.

When Roxas hurried up to the brunette he saw that Olette was already knocked unconscious. This did not mean good news. Hurriedly, he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close to him. Roxas propelled through the water as fast as he could swim. Just when it felt like his lungs were going to explode from lack of air, Roxas broke the surface and gasped loudly for breath. In his arms was Olette, still unconscious and looking like she wasn't breathing. Roxas heard the crowd still standing bewildered on shore. He swam to the close sandy shores of the beach, tugging Olette behind him. The crowd parted and gave Roxas room as he dragged the brunette girl through the sand. Gently, he laid her flat on her back and crouched down near her. Not once in his mind did he worry about his surfboard, which was now more than likely lost out at sea somewhere. The rest of Olette's friends ran up to her and Roxas, also hovering over the brunette's unconscious body with the blond.

"Is she breathing?" Kairi gasped, her hands over her mouth. "Why isn't she breathing?"

"Somebody do something before she dies!" Hayner freaked out, his arms flailing and his eyes bulging out far past their limit.

"Go on, Roxas!" Selphie gasped, though was unable to hide the mischievousness in her voice. "Give Olette the kiss of life!"

Roxas whipped his head around and sent Selphie a dumbfounded expression, outrage vivid somewhere on his face. "Wh-what?" He was unable to keep the volume of his voice from rising.

"Only someone who knows CPR can do that!" Sora said, looking from Selphie to the spiky-haired blond.

"I… I know CPR," Roxas admitted, seemingly reluctant to say so.

Despite the seriousness of the whole incident, and the fact that the more they stalled the more likely it was that Olette wouldn't make it, the teens fell awkwardly silent. Though the others didn't seem to notice, Roxas face turned a light shade of red. Selphie, however, grinned ecstatically and gave Roxas a light shove. He fell forward slightly, almost toppling onto Olette's unconscious figure.

"Well then, Roxas," she giggled, trying to keep her voice as worried sounding as possible. "Perform some CPR on our precious Olette before she dies!"

Seeing there was no other way, Roxas put a serious face on. With the others still surrounding him, he turned back to the passed out brunette. He quickly placed one hand on Olette's bare shoulder and bent over her. While the others watched Roxas with anxious and worried expressions, Selphie was the only one among them grinning mischievously. It might have been the kiss of life, but it still had the word kiss in it. Planting his mouth over Olette's own plush lips, Roxas performed CPR and exhaled into her mouth. Unfortunately for him, that exact moment was when Olette decided to come to and fluttered her eyes open.

Everything that had just happened was a blur to her, and she was unable to remember much. Something about surfing, getting bombarded by a huge wave, knocking her head on a rock, and then nothing. And for a moment, she took a second to try and recall what had happened. However, her moment of recollection was interrupted when she felt some strange pressure against her lips. Eyes flickering open and widening, Olette saw Roxas hovering over her and pinning her to the sand while giving her what she thought was some kinky kiss. But Olette had to protest, breathing into someone else's mouth wasn't enjoyable even if the kisser was trying to be kinky. Even then, kinky kisses weren't her thing.

As Roxas did CPR on Olette, the brunette shrieked suddenly. This alarmed the blond so badly, he jumped back with his heart thumping rapidly in his chest. Roxas landed on his rear and stared at Olette with widened blue pools of confusion. He hadn't even started the cardiopulmonary resuscitation when the brunette came to. What had alarmed him, though, was that she had screamed into his mouth upon regaining consciousness. Olette was staring back at him, her expression a mix of bewilderment and resentment. And this he did not appreciate. The others also had jumped back, and were now staring down at Olette with surprised looks.

"Olette!" Kairi gasped out of relief. "You're all right!"

The brunette wasn't listening. She was much to busy giving Roxas the dirtiest look she could muster. While she had been out cold, he decided to take advantage of her. To her, he was nothing more than a disgusting pervert.

"What the hell were you thinking?" she demanded, raising her voice high above the sound of the waves. "You stole my lip virginity! You _raped_ me of my lip virginity!"

"Olette, keep your voice down," Pence shushed, glancing around himself nervously. "You're earning us weird looks."

Roxas' alarmed expression was quickly replaced by a look of angry rage. He shot back up and sat on his legs, getting up off his keister but not standing up all the way. "Are you even listening to yourself?" he snapped back, casting a shadow over Olette as she remained lying in the sand. "To all the retarded things you're saying? _Lip virginity?_ I'll have you know I was saving your life!"

"Liar!" she hollered. Behind Roxas, Selphie suddenly looked trepidatious as she continued staring down at her brunette friend with widened, bright green eyes. "You're a dirty liar! What you did was steal my first kiss!"

"For crying out loud!" Roxas snarled under his breath while running his hand through his hair furiously. He had looked away from Olette for a moment, trying to calm his irked nerves. "It was just CPR!"

"Don't lie to me!" Olette shouted angrily. Without so much as thinking, she grabbed a fistful of sand and threw it at Roxas' face.

He gave a short yell as he tumbled backwards. He tried to rub the sand out of his eyes, which were now stinging in agonizing pain. Behind him, Olette heard both Kairi and Selphie gasp. Even the boys were staring at Olette like she had lost her marbles. She didn't notice, however, because she was still too busy glowering at Roxas. After rubbing out as much sand as he could, Roxas whipped his head around and gave Olette a scowl. But it wasn't his frown that surprised her. What surprised her was the tiniest hint of hurt in his dark expression. Roxas' once blue eyes were now slightly bloodshot and red from the sand that had gotten into his eyes. The blond sprang to his feet, still keeping his glare on Olette.

"You're insane, you know that?" he snapped huffily. He stomped past Olette, who now had a look of bafflement on her face. "You can expect this to be the _last_ time I save your life!" Roxas added quickly in shouting form from behind the brunette girl as he continued storming off, his back turned to all seven of them.

By the time Olette turned around, Roxas was already gone, making his leave away from the beach. She slowly got back up onto her feet, a dark look set on her sun kissed face, while brushing away whatever sand was on her. She was less than convinced that Roxas was trying to save her. Why would he want to do that? Didn't he hate her? If anything, saving her was the last thing he would ever do. Olette turned back around on a single heel, only to come face to face with the frowns of Kairi and Selphie. She took an anxious step back, a defensive look plastered all over her countenance. The other two didn't give up, though, placing their hands firmly on their hips. The boys, noticing this, backed away in fear. They knew better than anyone that hell hath no fury like a woman—scorned or not.

Selphie pointed an accusing finger at Olette. "Talk about harsh!"

"Why'd you do that?" Kairi demanded. "He was only trying to help!"

"N-no he wasn't!" Olette defended with a shaky voice. "He was lying—"

"No," Selphie interrupted, "he wasn't. Olette, you almost drowned!"

"Roxas went in and saved you," Kairi added. "He performed CPR on you to revive you."

"Huh?" Olette was suddenly at a loss of words. Why were her friends ganging up on her and defending _Roxas_?

"It's true," Hayner interjected, stepping up to Kairi's side. "The guy was the only one who went into the water to get you."

"He was also the only one who was willing to do CPR," Sora said with a nod of his spiky-haired head.

Olette opened her mouth and hoped for any sort of verbal response to come out. Unfortunately, not even so much as a gurgling sound came out. She had to practically vomit out the words. "But… I was—"

"Knocked out," Riku interrupted. "You were unconscious, Olette. You must have hit your head pretty hard when you went under the water."

Once again, as much as Olette tried she was unable to speak. Okay, so maybe for once Roxas was being truthful. And maybe for once Olette felt like the biggest idiot in Twilight Town. There was no getting around this: She had hurt Roxas for absolutely nothing. "So when I threw the sand at him, I was just being—"

"A bitch?" Selphie suggested. This earned her a dark frown from Olette, but didn't faze her. "Yeah, pretty much."

Olette groaned, hiding her face behind both her hands. Roxas was never going to let her live this down after she apologized. "Why is it always me?" she asked to the sky, very loudly at that. Just the very thought of apologizing to Roxas, her worst enemy, almost made her gag. Actually, it _did_ make her gag.

° ˚ • ◊ • ˚ °

So, Saturday had basically been a disaster for Olette. Not only did her head hurt from hitting it so hard on the damn rock, but so did her pride. And her pride was going to need a lot more healing than her head. She didn't even wait long enough for the three rather odd, yet familiar, judges to announce who the winner was. The brunette was so embarrassed about her brutish behavior, she left the beach in a hurry and took the next train home. She had to later explain to Selphie and Kairi over instant messaging that she left the beach early because of her mounting guilt. As much as she despised Roxas, she had never felt so guilty before in her life. Anyone else would have felt guilty, too, if they threw sand in the face of the person who saved their life. For a second time. At first she didn't care, that is until she remembered how Roxas pushed her out of the way of the oncoming car. And then she felt horrible. Because even though he couldn't stand her, he had no problem helping her out a second time. She felt like the biggest bitch ever to come into existence.

And now there was poor little Olette, sulking in her backyard and cursing herself for not thinking rationally. Still, there was a part of her that told herself she shouldn't be upset. She still had every right to get back at Roxas. After all, it had been him who deliberately made her life a living hell just for his enjoyment.

_He was also the one who saved you a couple of times._

Upon thinking this, Olette groaned loudly to herself and fell backwards onto the soft, plushy grass growing in her backyard. She stared up solemnly at the night sky, noticing just how many stars there really were. It was late, and yet Olette still decided to go into her backyard. Aside from her bedroom, her backyard had always been her sanctuary of sorts. Especially at night, when all the stars were shining and blinking down at her lazily. The moon was out, almost a completely full moon, and showering the entire town in its pale light. She remained flat on her back, her arms and legs spread out like she was preparing to make a snow angel. There was a sort of eerie silence about, with the exception of the breeze blowing over her neighborhood. The silence only made it harder not to think horrible thoughts about herself.

"Why am I such a bitch?" she groaned, mostly directing it up to the sky rather than herself, as if she were expecting an answer from the stars.

So imagine her surprise when she did get a reply.

"Would you like me to answer that?"

Olette quickly sat up, her eyes searching through the dark for the source of the voice. She didn't need to search, though. She could recognize Roxas' voice from anywhere. Her green orbs finally landed on the blond. He was sitting in the large maple tree that had been growing in his backyard. The one thing about this tree that annoyed Olette in particular was that several of its sturdy branches grew over the fence and into her backyard. Luxord and Aerith, however, didn't seem to mind this at all. And an even more irritating thing about the tree was that Roxas was sitting comfortably on one of the stronger limbs that grew into her backyard. He sat on the branch with one leg propped up and the other dangling over the side. His arms were crossed in his lap. As her eyes adjusted to the darkness, she could make out his outfit. Roxas had been wearing his usual black and white checkered outfit, except this time he wasn't wearing the white jacket he always did. He must have left it inside, which made no sense to the brunette because it was chilly out.

Instead of feeling the familiar emotion of anger or some form of wrath, Olette could feel the guilt and embarrassment bubble up in her stomach once more that day.

She smiled anxiously for Roxas, making it quite obvious that she was forcing it. It didn't help when the corners of her mouth twitched uncontrollably from all the energy she was using just to keep the grin on her face. Just to show him she meant no hostility, Olette even gave him a small wave.

"Hello, Roxas," she tittered. The brunette girl had even used his first name instead of his surname.

"Don't address me like we're friends," Roxas snapped, frowning through the dark at her. "Witch."

For a moment, her guilt was temporarily replaced by frustration. It soon disappeared, however, especially when she noticed how stunning Roxas looked basking in the moonlight.

"I deserved that…" It was almost painful to force those words to leave her tongue.

Rubbing the back of her neck, Olette slowly rose to her feet. She could feel Roxas watching her, almost cautiously. That was when she did something she thought she would never do to Roxas. She bowed at a ninety-degree angle and apologized, "I'm really sorry for what I did at the beach, Roxas! Please, forgive me!"

She almost had to pinch herself to make sure she wasn't dreaming. But this would hardly classify as a dream for her. Maybe more like a nightmare. The whole time she was apologizing to the blond, she kept her eyes shut. When she got no response out of him, though, her eyes slowly fluttered open. The breeze passed over her backyard again, sending chills up and down her exposed arms. She could feel the stare Roxas was burning into her, but his silent act only made her that much more nervous.

"I don't," he finally replied, looking away from the girl. Olette quickly glanced up at him, but kept her bowing stance.

"Huh?"

"I don't forgive you," Roxas clarified, the arrogance in his voice hard to ignore.

Olette snapped up straight, still puzzled. And it was obvious on her face, too. She gaped at Roxas as he kept his frown on the moon. Even after degrading herself and begging for his forgiveness, the blond refused to accept it and throw a childish tantrum instead. Olette's gawk turned into a pout. She hitched up her shoulders, a habit of hers she usually did when she was upset and throwing a fit of her own.

"What?" she snapped, though Roxas didn't turn to look at her. "I'm over here practically groveling for your forgiveness, and you won't even accept it?"

"Why should I?" Finally, Roxas tore his gaze from the moon and directed his glare at the brunette. "After all the crap you've done to me, give me one good reason why I should forgive you."

Olette's jaw automatically dropped when she heard this. She was outraged that he even had the nerve to accuse her of tormenting Roxas when in all actuality it was the other way around. If anything, he should have been the one begging for her forgiveness, especially considering all he's done to her.

"All the crap _I've_ done to you?" she seethed, her cheeks tinting red. "What about all the crap you've done to me, huh? You know what, I shouldn't be the one apologizing. It should be you!"

Roxas jumped off the branch he had been sitting on the whole time suddenly. He landed in Olette's backyard, landing in an almost perfect stance. She stiffened when he looked back up with a dark and serious expression on his pale face. She began retreating backwards when Roxas stalked towards her quickly, his trudging heavy but swift.

"And do you know why I'm so terrible to you?" Roxas asked rhetorically as Olette backed up into the side of her house.

She pinned her back to the wall and placed the palms of her hands against it by her sides. She had trapped herself, and it only got worse when Roxas stomped right up to her. He was practically pinning her to the wall with his own body when he slammed the palm of his hand into the wall right next to her head. The blond hunched over, so as to shrink down to Olette's height and get right in her face. He was close enough to where the brunette could make out every detail of his dark expression. Roxas kept his other arm by his side, leaving Olette an open space to run for it if the time called for it. Instantly, Olette's anger was gone. However, this time it was replaced with panic. Roxas was much too close to her for comfort, and the look on his face was practically murderous. Not only that, but Olette's face heated up to the point where she thought it was going to catch on fire. She could feel the rate of her heartbeat dangerously increase in speed inside her chest. It didn't help that it was dark out, they were both out of everyone else's sight, they were completely alone, and that Roxas was almost pressed up against Olette.

The brunette couldn't quite put her finger on it, why she had been feeling so panicky. It wasn't fear, that was for sure. Roxas didn't scare Olette. And figuring out her strange reaction was only more difficult because she couldn't determine why there was a large patch of red on her face or why her heart was ready to burst. All she knew was that her anxious change in behavior had something to do with Roxas. Maybe it was guilt again. Then again, maybe it was _slight_ fear. After all, the vicious pout on his face was enough to glare Olette dead. She had to control herself just to keep her breathing from going shallow.

"Why I take the time out of my day to make your life a living hell?" Roxas said roughly, getting closer to Olette's face. She tried to back up closer to the wall, but found this attempt pointless. "Why I torment you on a daily basis?"

"I—I don't know!" Olette spluttered, suddenly finding it difficult to talk. She stumbled over her words, unable to think up full sentences.

"Do you think it's because I'm just some sadistic bastard?" Roxas yelled, slamming his other hand against the wall next to the girl's head.

Olette closed her eyes tight, hoping it would all go away. "I don't know!" she repeated, her voice trembling.

Her surroundings fell silent. The only thing the brunette girl could hear was the drumming of her heart in her ears. She could feel the anger and hostility gradually dissolving away. Finding it safe again, Olette slowly opened up her eyes. She looked into Roxas' face, noticing his expression had softened but still had stony features. When they locked eyes, he furrowed his brows together and frowned once more. Scoffing, Roxas pulled away from Olette and turned his back on her. He stuffed one hand into his pocket and ran the other hand through his hair, feeling tremendously exasperated. Olette remained against the wall, staring after Roxas with confused shock still buzzing around in the pit of her stomach.

"Has anybody ever told you you're oblivious?" Roxas spat, giving Olette a quick glance over his shoulder.

Olette didn't respond, only stared blankly at him as her confusion increased. Roxas didn't wait for her to give him an answer to his rhetorical question. He dashed off back towards the fence. He lunged into the air, jumped the fence, and went off running across his own backyard. Olette winced when she heard Roxas slam the door shut with all his strength. She was left alone in the dark. Olette rubbed her hands against her face, rubbing away the tiredness that was starting to set in. She exhaled loudly and placed her hand over her heart, trying to get it to return back to its normal heart rate.

She stared down at her feet with her hand over her wildly thumping heart. "What does oblivion have to do with… anything?"

Looks like boys weren't the only annoyingly frustrating creatures around.


	6. History's Mysteries

**A/N – Edited 8/28/08. Another new chapter that came to mind. Woot for roxette fluff?**

° ˚ • ◊ • ˚ °

**C** h **a** p **t** e **r** S **i** x

**History's**Mysteries

Outside it was what one might consider a beautiful day. The sun was beating brightly down on Twilight Town, and fluffs of white clouds resembling cotton balls floated lazily across the faded azure sky. The air was calm, with barely a breeze out and about. Yet, strangely enough this wonderful weather was going to take a turn for the worse later in the day. But for now, it was practically gorgeous outside. However, the atmosphere was not the same inside Olette's third period history class. While it was luminous outside, it was dark inside the classroom. The air was eerily cold, and the brunette could hear the shallow breathing of every student in the classroom. This was nothing new to Olette, though. Every history class of hers was always like this. It was amazing how much fear just one teacher could strike into so many students.

Leon paced slowly back and forth at the front of his class. The students watched him with eyes filled to the brim with anxiety. They feared that if they made the slightest movement, the frightening teacher would lash out at them. Both verbally and physically. Olette remained seated in her chair, unfazed. The other students, however, were gripping either the edges of their desks or chairs for dear life. Leon continued back and forth, back and forth, silently sauntering at the front of his class. His head was bowed, and though his facial expression was usually stony and unreadable, it was quite obvious he wasn't in the mood for any sort of trouble. Which would explain why Hayner was cowering in his chair like a dog with its tail in between its legs.

Roxas sat in front of Olette, just as bored as she was. Besides her, the blond was one of the very few students that Leon struck no fear into. He had his head resting against his fist, trying hard to keep his eyes open. It was only at the sound of Leon's voice did Roxas snap out of his sleepy trance.

"Today I'm going to assign you all a project," Leon said almost inaudibly. Had it not been for the fact that he scared almost every single student he taught, half of the kids in the class would have groaned. But they didn't. "It'll be due this Friday. You will work in partners."

Upon hearing this, Hayner almost instantly lit up. He sat up straight in his chair and sent Olette a toothy grin. The brunette groaned inwardly to herself and slapped the palm of her hand against her forehead. It didn't help that Pence didn't share this class with the two of them. And because of it, Hayner was going to leech himself to Olette for the project. It just so happened that whenever there was a huge assignment due, Hayner would partner himself up with Olette. This was because she was a hard worker, and he was a lazy slacker who left her to do all the work for the both of them. And this assignment would be no different.

"I will give you the periods in history you will be researching," Leon continued in his usual solemn voice. "I expect both an essay and a visual." The teacher stopped suddenly in his tracks. He glanced up at his students with his eyes narrowed. "Oh. And I will be choosing your partners for you."

This time the students groaned, forgetting about the fact that it was Leon they were groaning to. Hayner's spirits were crushed, and he slumped down in his chair. Olette, however, cheered up when she heard these words leave her teacher's mouth. Maybe she wouldn't end up working with her lazy best friend after all. It was about time, too!

"Let's partner up first," Leon muttered, dismissing the groans from his students.

The classroom broke out into whispered chatter as Leon ambled down the aisles and partnered up the students. Olette glimpsed up from her desk and flickered her green eyes over back to Hayner. He looked up and gave her his usual puppy dog eyes, begging her to be his partner. Trying not to smirk, Olette simply shrugged her shoulders, to which Hayner frowned. The brunette turned back around in her seat, smirking by now. Her eyes unconsciously landed on Roxas. It seemed he had finally fallen asleep. Scoffing, Olette directed her eyes back down to her desk.

One by one, the students were assigned to their partners. For the most part, they were happy with who they ended up with. Olette, on the other hand, didn't like where things were going. She was one of the last students that Leon assigned a partner to. And there were only three other people left. Those three students being Hayner, Roxas, and Sora. She suddenly hated herself for sitting at the back of the classroom. Maybe Leon would show her mercy and partner her up with Sora.

However, with Olette's luck, that wasn't very likely to happen.

Leon stopped at the back of the classroom where the four students were clustered together. He glared down at Roxas, who was still sound asleep. Without so much as a smirk or snicker, Leon slammed his hand down against the blond's desk. The sound of the slam echoed throughout the entire classroom, and for a moment the rest of the students fell dead silent. Roxas woke up with a yelp, startled. He jumped up in his seat and straightened his posture, looking around himself wildly. Behind him, Olette was trying to muffle her evil giggling. The sight was just too hilarious. Roxas looked back up at Leon, blinking the sleep out of his eyes and wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.

"Had a good nap?" Leon snarled.

Roxas yawned, stretching. "Not really."

Olette was almost thankful Leon's glares didn't have the power to glower people dead. Even if that deadly glower was directed at the blond menace who enjoyed ruining her life. Leon cleared his throat, an irritated sound, and gazed over the last four students with a cold stare. His dull eyes finally landed on Hayner, which caused the poor boy to pale in terror.

"Hayner," Leon said. "You will be partnered up with…"

Olette bit her bottom lip and practically dug her nails into the wooden desktop of her desk. She sat apprehensively in her seat, praying for a sort of miracle to happen. Sora was also glancing nervously up at Leon, pleading with his blue eyes not to be partnered up with Hayner. Even he knew how lazy the dirty blond was.

_Please partner him up with Roxas, please partner him up with Roxas, please partner him up with Roxas!_

"…Sora."

"No!" Sora groaned to himself and slammed his head against his desk. Hayner cheered up slightly, fully aware that Sora was also a hard worker. At least now he would get to goof off instead of work. Olette's eye twitched suddenly. She hoped her hearing had suddenly gone bad. Roxas' jaw dropped, disliking the partnering decision just as much as Olette.

"You can't partner me up with her!" the blond protested, jabbing his finger at Olette. "She's a psycho! She'll kill me before we even finish this project!"

"Me?" Olette snapped, her voice going high pitched. "What about you? You'll cause me to lose my mind before we even finish up this assignment!"

"Too late," Roxas snickered under his breath. Olette frowned at him, suddenly wishing she had the ability to shoot lasers out of her eyes.

Leon, ignoring the obvious hatred between the two teens, only sighed. He placed his hand on his forehead while shaking his head. "Look," he murmured. "I don't have time for your relationship problems. Just get the project done and over with and you'll have nothing to worry about."

Olette whipped her head around and gawked at Leon with an open jaw. "Relationship problems?"

At this, Roxas stuck his finger in his mouth and made gagging noises. This only earned him a dirty look from Olette. Sora and Hayner, however, were snickering madly to themselves. Leon dismissed Roxas and Olette's antics with a casual wave of his hand. He hardly cared what was wrong with the two. And while he might have purposely paired the two up because they entertained him, he also needed them to work through their petty problems and finish his assignment as a team.

"Roxas, Olette," the teacher continued as the students in the class began working on their assigned history research. "You two will be doing research on the Hundred Years War. Remember, essay and visual." With that said, Leon meandered back to his desk at the front of the classroom.

Outraged, Olette briefly looked back over at Sora and Hayner. Sora was scribbling down a rough draft for an essay on a sheet of paper, frowning darkly to himself. Hayner sat behind the boy, staring blankly out the window with a rather content expression set on his face. He was relaxed in his chair, sitting all the way back in it with his arms crossed behind his head and his legs propped up on his desk. The brunette groaned inwardly in the depths of her mind once more that class period. Hell, she would have rather been paired up with Hayner than Roxas. She felt chills travel up and down her spine suddenly. Alarmed, Olette redirected her attention back to Roxas. And sure enough, the blond was glaring at her threateningly. Olette furrowed her brows together, returning the dark look with one of her own.

"What's your problem?" she snapped harshly.

"I'm looking at it," Roxas replied just as rough, keeping the glare on his pale face.

Olette huffed and buried her face in a textbook. This was going to be a _long_ project. The class period went by agonizingly slow. All around her, Olette could hear the other students working together to get as much of their assignment done as possible. Not once did Roxas turn around in his seat to offer Olette any information about the war they were supposed to be researching. And it was starting to annoy her. All he would do was doodle on a piece of paper. Eventually, she had enough. Slamming her textbook shut, Olette tapped her finger against Roxas' shoulder. The blond turned around and made sure to glare at her.

"What?"

"So, I figured we might as well just get this project done and over with," Olette sighed while glaring back at the boy. "So we should work on it after school."

"You really think I want to spend more time than I have to with you?" Roxas retorted, turning his glower into a smirk. Olette felt her cheeks turn red from annoyance. It was like trying to communicate with a bratty five-year-old.

"Listen!" she snarled through her teeth. "I hate this just as much as you do, but there's nothing we can do about it! So suck it up and deal with it!"

"Fine," Roxas chuckled wickedly, only making Olette darken her expression. "We'll work on this stupid assignment at my house after school."

"Fine!"

"Fine."

With the argument coming to a clean conclusion, Roxas turned back around in his seat and continued doodling away on his scrap piece of paper. By now the other students had done almost half of their assignment, while these two had begun on absolutely none of it. Olette made sure to glower as darkly as possible at the back of the blond's head before returning to her textbook.

° ˚ • ◊ • ˚ °

The final bell rang, setting the students free of school's torture. The other students charged out of the geometry classroom, almost trampling over Mr. Xigbar in the process. Among these stampeding students were Hayner and Pence. The two of them left Olette all alone in the back of the geometry class to glare blankly into the void. It was after school, meaning it was time to go over to Roxas' house. The very thought of it made the poor brunette girl shudder as she slowly rose from her desk.

She seemed to have forgotten to determine a meeting spot with Roxas, because when she stepped outside of school she couldn't spot the blond anywhere. Frowning, she stomped off down the sidewalk in search of Roxas. Olette failed to notice the once blue sky was now a dangerous dark color. Before, the air all around her had been still, but now there was an aggressive breeze blowing over the small town. And the once warm heat was replaced by an icy chill. The heels of her school shoes clacked against the sidewalk as Olette continued with her enraged search for Roxas. It didn't take long to find him once she turned the curb. His figure suddenly appeared in front of her, trudging his way down the sidewalk with his hands stuffed inside his pockets.

Glaring suddenly, Olette called out in a snippy tone, "Nohart!"

Roxas glanced over his shoulder to look for the source of the voice. As soon as his sapphire eyes landed on Olette, the boy scowled. He slowed down slightly, though not halting all the way. Olette stormed up to his side, keeping her glare glued to him the whole time.

"What is it now?" Roxas demanded in an exasperated voice.

"Did you forget we're supposed to do a project together?" Olette sassed. There was a violent and sudden gust of wind. Olette quickly held down her plaid skirt with both of her hands in fear of flashing her underwear to the entire world. Even Roxas had to keep his balance because the force of the wind was so strong it almost knocked him over. A surprised expression flashed onto both of their faces for a split second as the wind gusted through the town. Still, the brunette didn't even glance up at the sky to look for any sign of rain.

Roxas rolled his eyes as the two of them went on with their walk. "And you meant today?"

"What did you think I meant?" the brunette snapped, stomping her foot.

She heard Roxas sigh as he proceeded with his stroll down the concrete sidewalk. The large gap between the two teens was filled with a chilly breeze. He didn't even stop to look at her, which she found annoying. Olette took a moment to glare at the back of Roxas' head before charging after him.

"Well?" she said, purposely raising the volume of her voice.

"Fine," Roxas groaned, shaking his head. "We'll work on it at my house."

Their neighborhood came into view as they stepped off the sidewalk to cross the narrow street. Roxas' two-story house stood pressed against the graying sky. The once white clouds were now looming overhead in dark grey colors. The hateful tension between the two teens was so thick, neither of them dared to say a word to one another. Instead, they had walked the whole way in silence. Olette trailed quietly after Roxas as the two of them cut across his lawn and stepped onto his porch. Just as the blond's hand was reaching for the doorknob, he stopped short and glanced down irritatingly at Olette.

"You're not even going home to change?" he snapped, referring to their school uniforms.

Olette frowned darkly. "I want to get this done and over with as soon as possible."

Roxas' only response was a roll of his blue eyes. She caught the sigh escape between his lips as he pushed the door open. Olette stepped out of the chilling breeze and into the warmth of Roxas' house. She quickly snuck a glance around the place. The colors in the house were earthy, almost dull. It was tidy, too, not one thing out of place. Olette began admiring the copper colored curtains when Roxas threw his backpack to the brown-carpeted floor.

"Mom!" he shouted, stretching one arm above his head to relax his muscles. "I'm home!"

Other than the silence, Roxas got no response in return. Olette blinked and looked back over at the blond. He frowned and rubbed the back of his neck in what seemed to be a manner of gloom. She wasn't sure, but she thought she heard the almost inaudible words, "I can't believe she's not home again…" come from Roxas. It seemed that his mother wasn't home at the moment. Olette caught herself gulping almost instantly. The last thing she wanted was to be left alone with Roxas. If they were by themselves, he wouldn't hold back on the hostility. As Olette was lost in her anxious worries, Roxas glimpsed over at her from over his shoulder. When they locked eyes, he frowned at the brunette.

"Well?" he said in a sharp tone. "Are you just going to stand there or are you going to start?"

"Well, excuse me!" Olette huffed while Roxas walked into another room. She stood fuming by the door before chasing after him into the living room.

While Olette dropped an enormous pile of textbooks onto the oak coffee table, Roxas plopped himself down on the couch nearby and began playing on a handheld video game he seemed to have pulled out from out of nowhere. He didn't even rush upstairs to change out of his uniform and slip into some more comfortable clothes. She frowned, but ignored the nagging feeling poking at her emotions. Instead, Olette sat on her legs at the coffee table and cracked a book open. She had sheets of paper spread over the table with a pencil close to her hand, incase she found something interesting to write about. While researching for the facts on the war was incredibly boring, it wasn't the tedious scrutiny of the assignment that was bothering Olette. No, it was the constant beeping noises coming from the game in Roxas' video game. He sat directly behind her, sprawled out on the couch, punching away at the buttons as he tried to score the high score.

"Do you mind?" she hissed from over her shoulder, swiftly sending him an annoyed glare.

"No, not at all," Roxas sassed with a smirk tugging at the corner of his lips as his fingers continued punching away at the video game's buttons.

Olette growled to herself as she clenched her teeth together simultaneously. Outside the wind whistled through the leaves of the trees planted around Roxas' house. The once superb weather outside had now turned harsh, and no doubt it was later going to turn into a violent storm. It had been around that time for Twilight Town to get some rain. However, Olette wasn't interested about the sudden change in weather. She was more concerned with the lazy blond she was stuck dealing with. The brunette couldn't help but damn Leon to hell for even thinking about partnering her up with Roxas.

"You need to do some work, Nohart!" Olette demanded, slamming the palm of her hand against the opened textbook.

"Why?" he snickered, playing away on his video game. "You're doing such a good job by yourself."

"This would go _a lot_ faster if you at least _tried_ to help," the brunette girl seethed. She was trying her absolute hardest to keep her voice calm, but she caught it quivering on the brink of shouting.

Roxas tore his eyes away from his video game and glanced up at Olette. She found it difficult to determine whether the look on his face was a grin or a smirk. Most likely the latter, seeing as how it was _Roxas_ she was dealing with here. The blond remained lying on the couch in his relaxed position, but momentarily placed the handheld video game down. Olette's expression softened at this.

"What are we doing?" he inquired as his eyes flickered down to the numerous textbooks.

"The Hundred Years War," she answered abruptly. "I figured we would write the whole thing on Joan of Arc. She was an interesting participant of the war. We could do an essay and a visual on her."

"Better get working on it, then," Roxas chuckled with an obvious hint of mischievousness in his voice. He went right back to playing his handheld video game. Olette's face tinted red in frustration. This project was going to take _a lot_ longer than she had been hoping.

And indeed, the assignment was taking practically forever. Olette worked away on her research for Joan of Arc, her eye twitching every so often as she was forced to continue listening to the annoying noises coming from Roxas' game. She would sigh loudly from time to time as an implication that the blond should really start helping and work on the research with her. But Roxas dismissed these hints and continued goofing off. By the time Olette was writing about Joan of Arc's success in Orleans, Roxas got bored with his handheld game. He discarded the piece of technology and pulled out a music player. Olette shut her eyes tightly and squeezed her mechanical pencil as Roxas stuck the ear buds into his ears and blasted the music. She growled to herself, getting sick and tired of his laziness. She made a mental note to remind Leon not to give Roxas any credit.

As the time went on, Roxas switched between various pastimes. And poor little Olette was still working her fingers to the bone, desperately trying to put all her research onto paper. The blond was no longer listening to music, but chatting away loudly on the phone with one of his friends (which Olette was surprised to learn, seeing as how she thought Roxas had no friends at all). Olette would grumble to herself every time Roxas said something into his phone, purposely raising his voice just to irk the brunette researching. And every time he laughed or chortled like an idiot into his phone, Olette felt like turning around and punching him right in the jaw.

Just when she thought things couldn't get any worse, Roxas had grabbed two pens and began drumming like an amateur on anything that was nearby. And then there was the texting, the eating, the singing, the watching of TV, the sleeping, and whatever else Roxas decided to do. But never once did he research. The blond was currently curled up on his couch, sound asleep. He wheezed softly to himself as he breathed in and out in even breaths. Olette's face was red by now, all her anger building up to the point of exploding. All around her were crumbled up papers and opened textbooks. Not only that, but there were several pencil on the coffee table, sharpened down to nothing more than wooden nubs. Saying the research wasn't going very well would have been an understatement in Olette's opinion. Now, had Roxas been helping things would have been going smoothly. But since he wasn't, the project was a disaster. She didn't even have an adequate essay halfway written!

The weather grew worse with Olette's mood. The branches of the tree outside the window were banging against the glass as the wind blew violently. The gust whistled and howled loudly, though Roxas didn't wake because of the sound. It had even begun raining outside, and the sky grew dark, almost black. Olette caught the lights in Roxas' house flickering once or twice. She gulped and continued working nervously on her essay. If there was one thing she hated more than Roxas, it was lightning and thunder. Luckily, neither had happened yet. But the storm was barely starting up, so it was only a matter of time.

Roxas snored loudly suddenly, causing Olette to jump in surprise. Glowering, she slowly looked at the boy from over her shoulder. His arm dangled over the side of the couch as he slept on his stomach. His face was plastered to the cushion, and he snored from his mouth. Olette had enough and grabbed the nearest textbook. With one good aim, she chucked the heavy book and hit Roxas square in the face. He yelped and sat up, looking around the room wildly for whatever it had been that woke him up. His eyes landed on Olette, and that was when he pouted at her.

"What gives?" he demanded with a yawn.

"I've been doing all the work," Olette yelled, "and all you've been doing is goofing off! Either you start helping or I'm telling Leon you didn't do squat!"

Roxas snickered to himself. Olette gritted her teeth together when he stretched and sprawled himself across the length of the couch once more. Crossing his arms behind his head, he gave Olette a side glance and said, "What do you expect that to do, you little tattletale?"

"You won't get any credit for this project!" Olette huffed haughtily as she slammed one of the textbooks shut. "And that could bring down your grade."

"Ooh, such a threat," he laughed, closing his eyes to go back to sleep.

He quickly opened up his eyes when he felt Olette grab a fistful of the collar of his button-up shirt. She gave him a forceful yank and pulled the blond close to her face. Roxas smiled anxiously when he got a perfect view of Olette's murderous glare. Her eyes were narrowed to slits, and her once emerald colored eyes flashed red with hatred. Roxas sat up awkwardly while Olette remained sitting up on her knees, keeping a tight hold onto his collar.

"Listen, you little jackass!" she snarled, actually causing Roxas to inch back in fear. Her words had a sharp and violent edge to them. He worried that she would actually kill him, seeing as how they were alone and had no witnesses around. "I'm not doing all this work by myself! Now either you get off your lazy ass and start working or, so help me God, I will kill—"

Olette was interrupted by a sudden blast of thunder. She screamed and instantly forced Roxas into a suffocating embrace. This, to him, was much worse than the girl having an inescapable hold on his shirt. Right as the blast of thunder crackled all around them, the lights in Roxas' house flickered for a moment and finally gave out. The two were engulfed in sudden darkness, with nothing more than the sound of a violent storm taking place outside. There was another blare of thunder that was accompanied by lightning that flashed across the sky this time, outlining the two teens hugging in the dark. Olette yelped in fear, a high-pitched noise that almost caused Roxas to go deaf, when the lights died. Roxas found it harder to breathe, especially when the brunette tightened her hold on him.

"What happened?" Olette's voice asked in the dark room, her voice trembling in fright.

Reluctantly, Roxas shoved her away. Okay, maybe not so much reluctantly, seeing as how he wanted to breathe again. Olette squeaked and fell with a thump to the carpeted floor of the living room. She was too scared to take a second to glare up at the spiky-haired blond.

"The power died," Roxas pointed out, trying to use his sassing voice. "Stupid storm. It's all your fault, Gainsborough."

"What?" Olette shrilled, her anger coming back. "How is it my—"

"I'll go get a flashlight."

Olette heard Roxas get up off the couch. It took a moment for her brain to process the information that he was going to leave her alone in the dark room. She reached up blindly towards the boy, opening her mouth to protest. But she could feel his presence leaving the room, and Olette was left alone in the dark. Her eyes grew wide in size and she felt her breathing grow shallow. The room suddenly fell eerily quiet and cold. Olette shuddered as she listened to the sound of the rain pounding against the house. She shakily crawled onto the couch and sat there, frozen like a statue. The brunette heard Roxas rummaging around his kitchen, looking for the flashlight he was so dead set on finding. Frightened, Olette dug her fingers into the cushions of the couch and squeezed her eyes shut. The noise of the storm outside wasn't in the least bit comforting to her. As much as she hated to admit it, she missed Roxas' company.

One of her bigger fears was thunder. Which was why she always freaked out during storms. Olette trembled, her anxiety growing more and more by the second. Thunder blasted through the air, filling up Olette's ears. She screamed and jumped off the couch. The girl ran blindly across the living room and dashed into the kitchen. The kitchen wasn't as dark as the living room because of the moonlight leaking in through the window. Still, it wasn't brightly lit enough for her to see. She tried to let her eyes adjust to the darkness as she began to desperately search for the very blond she despised.

"N-Nohart?" she said through the darkness, trying to make her voice sound as strong as possible. "Nohart? Where are you?"

She groped through the dark, searching every nook and cranny of the kitchen. The whistling and howling outside grew louder, and Olette could feel her skin crawling. Her search grew more desperate as her breathing grew even shallower. Olette straightened up quickly and looked around the dark room. It was useless, though, because she couldn't even see her own hand in front of her face. Lightning streaked across the sky outside the window, causing the girl to jump.

"Nohart?" she called loudly, allowing her voice to quiver in fear this time. "Roxas? Roxas! Where are you? Roxas!"

She was on the verge of screeching, letting the fright go to her head. One moment she was leaning against the island in the middle of the kitchen for support, and the next she slid down it and fell to her knees. Olette wrapped her arms around her head and tried to block any negative thoughts from her mind. She started shuddering, unable to control herself anymore. The tears she had been forcing back the whole time were pricking her eyes, threatening to spill over. Suddenly, a figure jumped out in front of her with a light shining on their face. Olette quickly looked up in alarm.

"Boo!" Roxas shouted as he jumped out from behind the island. At the exact moment he did this, thunder erupted in the air with lightning flashing across the black sky in the background.

The house was filled with Olette's high-pitched shriek. She sprang to her feet and bolted out of the kitchen. Unfortunately, she collided into the couch when she ran back into the living room and went toppling over it due to the lack of light. A painful lump grew in her throat and her heart began beating wildly, threatening to jump out of her chest. She couldn't get the shaking to stop. The sickening feeling of wanting to vomit overcame her as well, and she desperately wanted that feeling to go away. Roxas stumbled out of the kitchen, cackling like a madman. Olette peered over the couch and glared at him. He was too busy laughing, though, to notice this. Roxas supported himself against the wall, clutching his side with one hand while holding onto the flashlight with the other. Olette could feel the oncoming tears pricking her eyes, but forced them back. She wasn't about to show this menace any sign of weakness!

"Oh, man! That was great! Just perfect!" Roxas gasped, struggling to breathe through his laughter. He wiped away a tear that swelled up in his eye, now chuckling quietly to himself.

"You jerk!" Olette cried, popping up all the way from behind the couch. "That wasn't funny! You almost gave me a heart attack!"

"Are you kidding me?" Roxas laughed evilly as he placed his hands on his waist. The light of the flashlight was now pointed up at the ceiling. "That was the best! Who would have thought scaring the crap out of you could be so much fun?"

Olette scampered over the top of the couch and approached Roxas with murder on her mind. She, too, placed her hands on her hips and sent him a defiant glare. Though, she doubted he even saw it, what with it being pitch black in the room and all. The rain continued pouring heavily outside with the wind threatening to blow the house down. Either the house or the entire neighborhood, whichever came down first.

"How can you be so heartless?" she scolded in a low, dangerous tone. "Jerk!"

"Um, hello," Roxas sassed, arching a blond eyebrow. "You're talking to a guy whose last name is Nohart here."

"Ooh!" Olette stomped her foot and started throwing a mini-tantrum. Roxas smirked and watched in amusement. Whatever he could see, at least. The lack of light really was unhelpful. "You make me so angry, you know that?"

"Yeah, well you make me a lot of things," Roxas remarked with a sigh laced into his sentence. "But you don't hear me complaining."

"You're just begging to get punched, aren't you?" Olette seethed as the anger bubbled up in her stomach. Punching Roxas was starting to seem quite appealing. If only the lights were on, that way she could see it when she did hit him right in the face.

"Go on. I dare you!" Roxas mocked Olette and pointed at his face, practically encouraging her to punch him. "Punch me right in the face. Go on, do it!"

"Ooh, that's it!" Olette shouted, no longer holding back.

She raised her fist in the air as Roxas stood in front of her, unfazed. She brought her fist through the air, relishing the moment when her curled up hand would make contact with Roxas' pale face. However, she would never get to relish that moment. For what had to be the umpteenth time that night, thunder broke the silence around them and blasted loudly. It sounded much closer than before, which caused Olette to scream bloody murder. She lurched forward and crashed into Roxas. The force of her sudden movement was so strong that it sent both of them tumbling down. The flashlight flew out of Roxas' hand and landed in some unknown area of the living room. The whole time they were arguing, the two of them didn't realize they were standing close to the door that led to the basement. But when Olette tackled into Roxas, the two were sent flying back and bashed against the door.

The basement door flew open and both Roxas and Olette tumbled down the flight of stairs. Roxas grunted and Olette squealed as they rolled down the stairs in a tangled heap of limbs. Thunder roared and lightning struck as the two hit the bottom of the flight of stairs and finally came to a stop. Roxas groaned in pain, lying in a heap beside Olette. The window in the basement had been cracked open slightly, allowing the powerful gust of wind to circulate around the cold room. That very gust of wind blew the door shut, which went unnoticed by both Roxas and Olette. The blond sat up, rubbing his now throbbing head. He shook his head to clear it of whatever dizziness he had endured. Roxas glanced down at Olette, who was lying on the concrete floor by his side. Her arms were sprawled out over her head and her legs were tucked together. She remained motionless, like she was now suddenly lifeless.

"Hey, Gainsborough." Roxas nudged Olette, trying to get her up. However, she didn't move. "Gainsborough? Olette? Olette?"

He began panicking, and was now hovering over Olette. He shook her vigorously, brushing the strands of hair out of her face as he did so. But as hard as he tried, Olette wasn't waking up. Just when he was starting to contemplate the worst, Olette's eyes fluttered open. Roxas yelped and jumped back in shock. Groaning, Olette slowly sat up while holding her head. She had managed to hit her head pretty hard on the way down the stairs. That was definitely not a very pleasant trip. The girl quickly looked around to see where the two were now.

"Where are we?" she asked in a panicky voice, not turning to look at Roxas.

"The basement to my house."

"Basement!" Olette snapped her head around and gawked at Roxas with widened green eyes. "I hate basements!" she exclaimed, her tone of voice frightened.

She jumped to her feet and sprinted up the wooden flight of stairs, nothing more than a blur. Olette started yanking on the doorknob, trying her hardest to pull the door open. Roxas got to his feet and leisurely approached Olette from behind. He watched with a hitched blond eyebrow as she continued struggling to get the door open. But when the darn thing refused to open, she spun on her heels to face Roxas. The look of terror was perfectly vivid on her face, even in the dark.

"It won't open!" Olette gasped, her eyes filled to the brim with panic. "It's stuck! I think we're locked in!"

Horrified alarm erupted onto Roxas' face. "What?"

Before Olette had a chance to answer, another blast of thunder sounded throughout the air outside. Because the window in the basement was slightly open, all the noise outside was perfectly audible. Olette screamed, lurching forward. Doing so caused both her and Roxas to go tumbling down the stairs once more. Roxas landed at the bottom first, soon followed by Olette. He yelped and writhed in pain when the brunette landed on his stomach. Roxas groaned and flopped to the concrete floor in defeat, struggling to breathe. The girl had knocked all the wind out of him.

"Why?" Roxas groaned. He sounded like he was almost pleading to the ceiling. "Why does thunder freak you out so much?"

He struggled to get his sentence out, Olette cutting off his circulation as she remained sitting on his stomach. Unfortunately, he was in too much pain to force the girl off. She sat on him, trembling in fear and covering her face with her hands.

"Thunder scares me," she admitted in a meek voice, ashamed of her childish fear.

"That's absolutely retarded," Roxas grumbled as he tried to sit up to look at the brunette. She scowled at him through the cracks in her fingers. "Thunder can't hurt you! Moron."

Roxas cried out in pain when Olette jumped to her feet and kicked him as hard as she could in the ribs. The blond rolled over onto his side, grasping where he had been kicked. He muttered curses under his breath through his gritted teeth, but Olette dismissed them and stomped off to the darkest corner of the basement. She shivered and wrapped herself with her arms. It was incredibly cold down there, and the howl of the wind outside was much louder than it had been in the living room. Olette couldn't help but feel like she was starring in some cheap horror movie, what with the creepy basement and everything. For crying out loud, a storm was even going on outside! She wouldn't have been surprised if some masked guy with a chainsaw popped out and tried to kill her and Roxas. She would have willing handed Roxas over to the serial killer.

The blond boy slowly rose to his feet, flashing a dark glare at Olette as she did so. He rubbed his side, trying to ease the pain. It felt like the kick the brunette delivered broke his rib. When Olette took notice of the glower Roxas was giving her, she narrowed her eyes and then stuck her tongue out at him. Shaking his head, the blond looked away with an annoyed expression set on his face. For several minutes, the two teens fell into silence. With the exception of the rainstorm going on outside, of course. Every now and then Olette would shiver, to which Roxas would cast her a curious glance. When she noticed this and locked eyes with him, Roxas' face flushed pink and he would only quickly look away. The girl huffed and also glimpsed away. She tightened her arms around herself, trying to warm up. She was starting to regret not making the decision of going home and changing into her usual street clothes. It would have been a lot warmer than the skirt required for school.

The silence that was currently filling up the basement was once again shattered by more thunder. Olette, being afraid of thunder as much as she was, squeaked loudly and hurriedly crawled out to the middle of the basement closer to Roxas. The blond had remained by the flight of stairs, as far away from the girl as possible. She didn't care how much she couldn't stand Roxas; she hated thunder more than she hated the boy. She sat herself down in the middle of the basement, closer to Roxas but still a few feet away from him. Coiling her arms around herself again, she trembled in fear and glanced over at the window nervously. Her face fell blank when she heard Roxas snort to himself. Shocked, she whipped her head around and let her gaze fall on the boy. Roxas leered at the girl, sitting back casually and resting all his weight on one arm as he stretched his legs out.

"You're so immature," he mocked, which caused Olette's cheeks to tint red in agitation. "Seriously, who's afraid of thunder?"

"I am!" she snapped, her phobia disappearing for a moment. "There's nothing wrong with that, either! Everyone is afraid of something."

Roxas flashed her a lopsided smirk, which only irritated Olette even more so. "I'm not."

"Yeah, right!" she sneered, darkening the glare she had on the boy. "Everyone has a fear, and you're no exception."

"Of course I am," Roxas chuckled with evil intent. "That's because I'm not a huge, sniveling baby who cowers at the sound of thunder."

Olette's face burned crimson with the heat rushing to her cheeks. "Shut up! Just because I'm afraid of thunder doesn't mean you should make fun of me!"

"On the contrary," Roxas laughed as he crawled over to Olette. There was no way he was going to pass up the opportunity to mock her right in her face. "I think that's the absolute perfect reason to make fun of you."

Olette sat up on her legs, the scowl on her face growing darker by the second. Roxas had now crawled his way up to her with the smirk still resting on his pale face. He, too, sat up on his legs as he crossed his arms. The hatred bubbling up inside the girl was too much to be contained. She wanted to explode on him, and let him know exactly just how much she loathed him. Olette couldn't stand anything about him, his arrogant behavior, his cocky attitude, the way he thought he was better than everyone else just because. And last but most definitely not least, how he loved to personally victimize her and only her. She had noticed this, too, how she was the only one Roxas tormented. She hated it. She hated _him_.

"You know what, Nohart?" she hissed, curling her fingers into tight fists. Roxas snickered and flicked his bangs out of his eyes, accepting her challenge. "I really, _really_ can't stand you. And do you know what I hate the most about you?"

"Do tell," the blond laughed. He raised his chin into the air jauntily, clearly enjoying this. "Because nothing interests me more than your opinion."

Olette couldn't help but growl under her breath. The sarcasm added into Roxas' tone of voice was practically impossible to ignore. And the blond had made sure of that.

"I can't stand how you think it's funny to torture me," she seethed, jabbing her finger into his chest as she did so. "There's nothing wrong with being afraid of thunder, but apparently you think that's funny!"

"Why wouldn't I?" Roxas retorted, darkening his smirk as he did so. "That's the weirdest thing I've ever heard!"

"Oh, only because you're afraid of _nothing_, huh?" the brunette said with a forced and sardonic chuckle. She rolled her green eyes, to which Roxas pouted as a response.

"Was that sarcasm?" he demanded as he tilted his head to the side.

"Quite playing stupid!" Olette yelled, catching on. She groaned and grabbed her hair when Roxas laughed. She was about ready to slap the smirk off his face when for the first time in several minutes, thunder blared loudly nearby.

Olette shrieked and lunged forward again. She coiled her arms quickly around Roxas and forced him into a tight embrace. She didn't even realized what she had done as she buried her face into his chest and began trembling in fear. Roxas remained frozen, staring down confusedly at the girl with widened blue pools. He could feel her shivering, and found he was unable to shove the poor girl away. Olette tightened her hold on Roxas when thunder sounded off in the distance, squeezing her eyes shut even tighter. Slowly and carefully, Roxas wrapped his arms around Olette's lower back and returned her hug with one of his own as he pulled her closer. She was no longer freezing to death, but found out that Roxas was quickly warming her up. As much as she disliked even the thought of touching the blond, the warmth was too inviting and so Olette decided to hold on for a moment longer. Not only that, but she was now able to smell a faint scent wafting off Roxas. He smelled like spice, however, the aroma wasn't overbearing and Olette was soon pulled into it.

Almost unconsciously, she smiled to herself and discreetly inhaled deeply. Not only did Roxas smell like spice, but he also smelled like he just got out of the shower. Her moment of cautious sniffing was interrupted when she noticed Roxas fell quiet suddenly. That and he had wrapped his arms around her when she must have been too distracted with her fear of thunder to notice. Instantly, Olette felt her face heat up. She was no longer cold due to the wind seeping into the basement. She was warm from both Roxas' body heat and the warmth of embarrassment rushing swiftly to her face. Her embarrassment went unknown, but one thing was certain: She was stuck between the reluctance of letting go of Roxas and the urge to pull away from the boy.

It didn't help her situation when Roxas unconsciously breathed into her ear, "Olette…"

Her heart fluttered suddenly, and her stomach began somersaulting. Her face glowed a brighter shade of red suddenly. Gasping, she quickly scampered away from Roxas. He stared after her, his face blank but with a hint off confusion lost somewhere in his deadpan gaze. Olette brought her hand to her face, holding it near her mouth as she sat uncomfortably on her legs.

"Um…" was the only word that came to her mind.

Finding the situation suddenly awkward, Roxas casually turned away from the girl and looked back at the flight of stairs like he had a sudden interest in them. Olette cast her emerald eyes to the floor, her eyes now downcast. There wasn't a single thing right about this situation, especially since the two were supposed to hate each other. At least, Olette was almost positively certain Roxas hated her. She remained where she sat, her face still glowing red in the dark, as Roxas rose to his feet and headed over to the stairs. Apparently, he was going to give another attempt at opening the jammed door. Olette would have taken the time to think spastically to herself. However, she was unable to when she heard a soft squeak come from behind her and felt something furry brush against her bare leg. She gulped as her eyes slowly widened. Steadily, she turned around and looked down at the floor near her leg.

Squirming around near her leg was a large rat.

Olette screamed at the top of her lungs and hurriedly sprang to her feet. Roxas spun on his heels to see what the brunette was freaking out about now. But when he did this, Olette ran up to him as nothing more than a blur and jumped suddenly into his arms. Roxas yelped and stumbled back slightly, holding Olette bridal style. She was shaking uncontrollably again, this time staring down at the concrete floor with wide, shifty eyes. Roxas looked at her like she was insane, his expression partly worried and partly disgusted. The girl was much too busy to notice the boy's curious stare. Instead, she wrapped her arms around his neck, almost choking him as she did so, and plastered her cheek to Roxas'.

"What's wrong now?" Roxas gasped, unable to ignore the patch of red crawling onto his face when Olette did this.

"Rat!" she shrieked right into his ear, ultimately rendering the boy deaf, while pointing a trembling finger at the floor.

Roxas followed the trail of her finger. His eyes landed on the rat that had brushed up against her. The rodent was staring up at the two with blank eyes, just as confused as the blond boy. Frowning, Roxas returned his attention to Olette. She still had her horrified eyes glue to the creature, quivering and not caring at all that she was currently being held in Roxas' arms bridal style.

"It's just _one_ rat," he sighed, staring at her with a deadpanned expression. "Don't tell me you're afraid of rats, too."

Olette didn't respond with so much as a snap, retort, or rude remark. She only kept her widened eyes on the rat, expecting it to lunge out at her or something. Roxas had to admit, he was slightly amused. Slightly disturbed, but amused nonetheless. His amusement, however, soon melted away when the rat began to crawl its way over to the two by the stairs. Olette flinched back, gulping, and paled at the sight of the rat on the move. She screeched and began wriggling around in Roxas' arms, causing the poor blond to begin losing his balance.

"Don't let it come over here!" she wailed with tears swelling up in her eyes. The rat squeaked over Olette's screaming, inching its way closer and closer to the teens.

With all the flailing and yelling Olette was doing, it was no wonder Roxas lost his footing. He started stumbling around in the dark, tripping over his own feet while trying to keep Olette in his arms at the same time. As the brunette continued screaming and thrashing her arms all over the place, Roxas teetered to one side, the corner of the basement with a pile of boxes stacked up on top of each other. His elbow sharply nudged the box on the top of the pile as he began to sway forward, trying to get the girl to calm down. But then the two fell eerily silent when they heard a cacophony of squeaks and hisses. The two slowly looked down at the boxes, a nervous sweat forming around their foreheads. A whole horde of rats began scurrying out from behind the boxes Roxas disturbed with his elbow.

The rodents scuttled over the entire floor of the basement, squeaking and running over Roxas' foot. Olette's expression of pure terror only increased in horrification at the sight of the swarm of rats. Now Roxas was also freaking out over the sight of the many rodents making their way towards the teens, joining in with Olette's shouting and flailing. He hurried over towards the stairs, with the rats on his tail and Olette still trying to stay held up. He flew up the flight of stairs and tried yanking the door open with one hand.

"Hurry, hurry, hurry, HURRY!" Olette screamed bloody murder into the boy's ear, flailing her arms as she did so. "They're everywhere! Hurry!"

"I'm trying, I'm trying!" Roxas panicked. The door wouldn't open, though, and the rats were already beginning to crawl up the bottom steps of the stairs.

He turned around, turning his back to the door, and the two of them stared down at the rats. Olette screamed and tightened her hold on the boy's neck. Roxas gulped and backed up into the door, also tightening his hold on the girl. He was both shocked and revolted by how many rats were living in his basement. And now, he was going to die. Needless to say, Olette didn't want to be killed by rats either. Which was why she continued screaming like the classic damsel from any horror movie and resumed her thrashing of limbs. Just when the two teens thought their young lives were going to end, the door behind them swung open. Roxas went falling backwards, still holding Olette bridal style. He crashed to the carpeted floor of his living room, the brunette girl landing on his stomach and knocking the wind out of him once more that night. Before any of the rats had a chance to escape the confines of the basement, the door slammed shut. Both Roxas and Olette glimpsed up into the eyes of the blond's mother. Larxene stared down at the two, a blonde eyebrow arched and hands on her hips.

"What the hell, you two?" she snapped, sounding more worried than upset.

"Sanctuary!" Olette praised as she raised her arms above her head, still unaware that she was suffocating Roxas.

"What was with all the screaming?" Larxene demanded. "And what were you two doing in the basement in the first place?"

"Mom…" Roxas choked, sprawled out underneath Olette on the floor in snow angel position, "we have a slight rodent problem."

Larxene only tilted her head. She stared down at her son strangely, and then turned her confused gaze to Olette.

"You're the girl from next door."

Olette nodded. "This bastard—I mean, Roxas and I were doing a history project together." She forced an innocent smile for the older woman. No doubt all of this looked suspicious to the blonde mother.

"In the basement?" the mother questioned, adding a suspicion tone to her voice. Olette could feel her cheeks turning pink, catching on to the implication.

"What do you care?" Roxas snapped at his mother, using a calm tone. "It's not like you ever do care what I'm doing anyway."

Olette contained her gasp, horrified that Roxas would even talk back to his mother like that. But when Larxene simply shrugged and headed into the other room, the brunette couldn't help but feel slightly puzzled. Her confusion was interrupted when she heard a voice from beneath her.

"Get off me, Gainsborough."

Olette glanced down, only to come face to face with Roxas' pout. Squeaking, she jumped off the boy and allowed him the privilege of breathing again. He sat up, dusting himself off. She caught the look of hurt on his face. Maybe he was upset that his mother could care less what he was doing alone with a girl. Luckily for Olette, she didn't have to worry about parental bond issues. But then again, having a parent like her father wasn't all peaches and cream either. Silently, the two headed back over to the coffee table while Larxene worked away in the kitchen. While Roxas sat himself down on the couch, Olette stared at the coffee table and waited for her brain to process the sight. All the papers were gone. That was including her essay. The coffee tabletop was now bare of any papers, and Olette began to become overwrought.

"What happened to my essay?" she asked in a nervous tone, looking at Roxas from over her shoulder. He glanced up and looked at the coffee table. The boy locked a stare with Olette and shrugged. "I left it right here! Where did it go?"

Larxene walked back into the living room, going through a pile of mail. Roxas sat up and cast his mother another dark look.

"Mom, did you do anything to the papers sitting on the coffee table?" he inquired.

Larxene looked up from the mail she was rummaging through, rolling her eyes up to the ceiling to reminisce. "Papers? Oh!" She snapped her fingers, remembering suddenly. "I saw a bunch of papers on the coffee table and just assumed they were scrap paper. So I put them in the shredder."

Anyone a mile away would have been able to hear Olette's brain implode inside her skull. Roxas sure did. Nervously, he glanced back at the girl. The once sun kissed brunette had now gone pale, as white as a bed sheet. She stared at Larxene, her eyes widening to a larger size than they had been all night. Olette's fingers twitched, her mind unable to process what Roxas' mother just said.

"You… what…?" Olette stuttered as her eye twitched.

"Well, it looked like nothing so I put all the papers in our electric shredder," Larxene said casually with a shrug.

Olette gave a cry and slumped to her knees. She hung her head and mourned on her misery. Roxas quickly looked away from his mom and glanced worriedly at Olette. She was shaking her head and crying incoherent words to herself. Obviously, she was less than happy to hear about this.

"My essay was in that pile!" the girl cried, looking back up at Larxene. The woman gasped and covered her mouth with her hand, realizing what she had done. "I worked on that paper all night and finally got it finished! And you _shredded_ it?"

The brunette hung her head once more and started crying again. Larxene glanced between her son and the girl sympathetically. She told the two she was sorry and retreated back into the kitchen, saying something about going through the garbage and retrieving every strip of the essay for them. Roxas sat up on the couch, keeping his stare on Olette. She seemed really distraught over it. And why wouldn't she be? She had gone through several hellish hours just to get it finished, only to have his mother shred the whole thing. Even _he_ felt sorry for her.

"Olette…?" he spoke up, his expression softening.

Olette whipped her head up and glared darkly at Roxas with her green eyes glinting with tears. "This is all your fault!" she snapped as her voice quivered and threatened to break out into another cry. "If you hadn't had gotten us stuck in the basement, our essay wouldn't be ruined!" Roxas would have retorted, he really would have. But Olette wasn't venting her anger on him, in all actuality. The girl was only worried about her grade in school. She placed both her hands on her face and shielded it from him. "Now because of this, I'm going to fail. And I can't afford to get a bad grade in history!"

Without so much as another word, Olette dashed out of the living room and out of Roxas' house all together. He jumped off the couch and sprang to his feet, watching after the girl with widened sapphire pools. Even as she ran out through the front door, he could hear her quietly crying to herself.

"Olette!" he called after her even though he knew it was pointless. She was long gone now, only hating Roxas much more than she did before. He groaned and fell back onto the couch, holding his forehead in his hand. The last thing he wanted was for her to hate him much more than she all ready did.

° ˚ • ◊ • ˚ °

It was Friday, the very day Leon's assignment was due. Sniffling to herself, Olette trudged into her third period history class. Lo and behold, she had no project to present to Leon. Anxiously, she sat herself down in a seat. Students began filing into the room as the five-minute warning bell rang. The students were bringing in essays and interesting visuals with them. This only caused Olette to groan to herself and slide farther down in her chair. Hayner plopped down in an empty seat next to her with a visual in his hands. Sora took the seat behind Hayner with their essay. Just as Olette was thinking up the many lame excuses she could present to Leon, she heard something thump onto her desk. Surprised, she glanced up only to see Roxas standing in front of her with a smile on his face. Her eyes trailed down to what he had been holding in his hands.

"I felt bad about what I mom did," the blond began saying as he shoved something underneath Olette's nose. "So I went through all the garbage and looked for every shred of that entire essay."

The brunette looked down at what Roxas had shoved in her face. She plucked it out of his hands and held it in her own. She was holding onto her essay, taped back together with mountains of clear tape. Olette's face instantly lit up, the corners of her lips turning up into a smile. The essay wasn't the prettiest looking thing in the world, but at least Roxas was willing enough to tape it all back together after spending what must have been hours searching for each individual shred. Now at least this way she wouldn't fail Leon's class. Olette glimpsed back up at the blond boy, smiling for him as she did so.

"Wow… that's… wow." She was too shocked to even come up with a thank you for him.

"Please, try to contain your excitement," Roxas replied sarcastically, rolling his eyes.

Olette ignored the boy's sarcasm and looked back down at the visual he had plopped down onto her desk. From the looks of it, it looked like a visual of the burning of Joan of Arc. While their essay had been on the Hundred Years War, that wasn't exactly the visual she had in mind. Nonetheless, she appreciated the fact that Roxas not only fixed her shredded essay but also took the time to make the visual as well.

"You even made a visual for our assignment," she pointed out, sounding extremely surprised. Roxas pouted, not appreciating her obvious shock. Olette smiled warmly for him, which instantly wiped away his pout. For once in her life, she didn't hate him. But this wasn't going to last very long, considering the situation. "Roxas, thank you."

"Yeah, well…" Roxas rubbed the back of his neck and averted his eyes to the ceiling. He ignored the warmth that started rushing to his face and tried to keep his cool. "I figured I owed you at least this one since it was _my_ mom who shredded the living crap out of your essay. And since I didn't do much the day you came over to work on the project, I decided to make the visual."

"Interesting… choice of visual," Olette said as she snuck another look at the visual.

It was well constructed, with a stake in the middle. A little female figure that represented Joan of Arc was tied up to the stake, and Roxas had even put in some fire made out of construction paper around the stake. The whole thing was set up on a piece of cardboard with smaller pieces of sticks piled up around the burning stake. Olette leaned in closer to the Joan of Arc figure tied up to the stake, and instantly frowned. She glanced back up at Roxas with a dark scowl on her sun kissed face, only to be met with his infamous smirk.

"Why does the person getting burned at the stake look exactly like me?" Olette demanded, to which Roxas only cackled at.


	7. Wherefore Art Thou Romeo

**A/N – Edited 10/11/08. The writer apologies for her lack of knowledge in Shakespeare and **_**Romeo and Juliet**_**. Bear with her.**

° ˚ • ◊ • ˚ °

**C** h **a** p **t** e **r** S **e** v **e** n

**Wherefore**Art**Thou**Romeo

"Can anybody tell me what week this is?" Leon asked in a hushed tone from the front of his homeroom classroom. The students merely blinked up at him in silence, anticipating the end of the day. Olette sat at her desk behind Roxas, not even remotely paying attention to the teacher. She was much too busy secretly glancing down at Roxas' revealed boxers every time he leaned forward over his desk. Olette would quickly glance back up when she saw either Pence or Hayner look back over at her out of the peripheral of her vision. The girl remained seated in her perfect little posture, her legs crossed over each other while she held her chin cupped in her hand.

"The… second week?" Hayner finally guessed when the students refused to reply.

That was when Leon swiftly glanced up at the boy. Hayner gulped and flinched back in his seat, fully aware of the death glare his teacher was currently sending at him.

"I'm being serious, _Hayner_," Leon said, his tone of voice dangerously quiet. "Anyone?"

"The Students Arts Festival?" Kairi answered, making her statement sound more like a question.

A quiet murmur broke out over the classroom as students began whispering excitedly to each other about the annual festival. Olette, not being the school spirited student she wasn't, could only roll her green eyes up to the ceiling in annoyance. Her high school held that festival every year as a way to get kids to participate is some artsy activity. It was a competition between all the homeroom classrooms, all the classes competing with each other to see who could pull off the best art project. Every year, homeroom classes would embarrass themselves in the most ridiculous ways possible just to win the festival. Olette was still unaware as to exactly what the prize for winning the Students Arts Festival was.

"Correct." Leon sat himself on top of his desk while keeping his blank stare on his students. The murmuring instantly stopped when the teenagers took notice of his continuation in his explanation. "This year our homeroom will be competing in the Students Arts Festival, so we need ideas on what we could do."

"Just exactly what are we trying to win this year?" Olette questioned loudly, curious as to what the big deal was.

There was a moment of silence before Leon shrugged his shoulders. "I actually have no idea."

Olette huffed strands of hair out of her face before returning her eyes to where they previously were on Roxas. The teacher looked back into the petrified faces of his sophomore students.

"Any ideas, class?" he asked in his quiet tone.

"Let's make macaroni collages!" Hayner suggested excitedly as he practically jumped out of his seat.

The students turned in their chairs to stare blankly at the boy, raising eyebrows in disturbance. Hayner's face fell when no one stood up and agreed with him. Solemnly, Hayner slumped back into his seat and directed his eyes to his desk.

"Fine, you big party poopers."

"Pence likes taking pictures," Tidus spoke up from the front of the classroom. "Maybe he could take pictures of our faces and make a collage of them on one huge poster?"

"But then that would leave me to do all the work," Pence whined from his desk next to the window.

Almost at once, students in Olette's homeroom began shouting out ideas for the festival. She groaned inwardly, begging for all the noise to go away. Roxas remained in his seat, unaware of all the action taking place around him. The blond simply kept his head down, distracted with the obscenity he was scratching into his desktop with his pen. Girls excitedly squealed suggestions of performance art projects, while the boys suggested visual art ideas where they didn't have to get up in front of an audience and perform. Hayner was still defending his idea of macaroni collages. Ignoring all the ideas the students were throwing out at him, Leon sauntered his way over to Roxas' desk. The students fell silent when Leon came to a halt in front of Roxas. All the while, the blond kept his head down and continued scribbling on his desk.

"And what about you, Roxas?" Leon growled, finally causing the blond boy to gaze up at him with a bored look. "You've been quiet all day. What do you think our homeroom should do for the festival?" The teacher didn't even give Roxas a chance to answer before he swiped the pen out of the boy's hand. "Maybe a graffiti presentation on school vandalism?" Leon snapped calmly.

Roxas only looked up at his teacher with his jaw slack, completely speechless. As a response to Roxas' confused blinking, Leon said, "I'll see you in detention after school." With that said, Leon walked back to the front of his classroom with Roxas glaring daggers into the back of his head.

Olette kept her snickering as quiet as possible. She ultimately failed when Roxas heard her and quickly flashed her a glower from over his shoulder. Leon tossed the pen onto his desk, spun on his heels, and faced the entirety of his students once more. All the teens flinched at the sudden movement, but then realized Leon wasn't going to start yelling at them like he usually did.

"Any more ideas?"

Before any of the students jumped up and screamed their ideas for the festival, Kairi spoke up loudly, "What about a play on _Romeo and Juliet_?" There was a giddy smile on her ivory-toned face and her voice simply chimed when she suggested the idea. While Kairi was excited about the possibility of the idea, Olette almost gagged to herself. The last thing she wanted to do was perform some tragic romance written by Shakespeare.

The boys in the class shared her feelings, all of them groaning aggravatingly to themselves at the thought of the idea. However, every single girl in the classroom gasped excitedly to the idea and agreed with the redhead's suggestion. The boys in the class only grew more disgruntled when the girls started to demand Leon that they did the play for their entry in the competition. Even the usually stoic man had to cower in fear behind his desk at the aggressiveness the girls were showing. Kairi sat at her desk, beaming to herself and glad that the rest of the girls liked the idea. Meanwhile, Olette was sitting at her own desk, scheming a perfect time to ambush her auburn-haired friend and punching her right in the nose for even suggesting the idea of _Romeo and Juliet_. The girls began discussing loudly among themselves all the things that could be done if they did the play: Costume, hair, make-up, who would get the main roles of Romeo and Juliet—

"I nominate Roxas for Romeo!" one girl squealed so loudly, pointing at the mentioned blond as she did so, that the boys sitting around her grunted and even had to clasp their hands tightly over their ears. Roxas glimpsed up curiously from the obscenity he was writing on his desktop with another pen he pulled out, pulled out of his peaceful trance at the mention of his name. He blinked at the girls staring at him, confused as to what was going on.

Instantly, the girls broke out into hysteria.

"If Roxas is Romeo, then I want to be Juliet!" another girl demanded harshly. She instantly put on an aggressive demeanor when the other girls looked back at her threateningly.

"No way!" one girl protested, standing up in her seat and staring the previous girl down. "I want to be Roxas' Juliet!"

At the mention of this, the girls (with the exclusion of Olette and Kairi) grew argumentative and even a little bit violent. They had gathered in the middle of the room, yelling at each other about who was going to be Juliet. All the while Leon sat behind his desk, once in his life actually showing a sign of fear on his face. Pence was currently sitting at his desk, recording the whole ordeal on his cell phone so that he could later upload the video to the Internet (just in case some real violence broke out). Kairi's proud smile was gone, and she was currently grinning anxiously to herself. Perhaps suggesting _Romeo and Juliet_ was a bad idea. Olette could only question why the female population had grown so stupid over the years, while Roxas watched the girls fighting with horror in his blue eyes.

"I never agreed to being Romeo, though…" Roxas laughed nervously over the shouting of the girls. Though, none of them heard him.

"I'll be Romeo!" Hayner declared with a smooth smile etched onto his face.

The room grew eerily quiet. At least the girls stopped yelling. Hayner glanced up to see the girls who had been previously fighting staring back at him with blank looks on their faces. Some even looked annoyed at the suggestion of him being Romeo. He frowned darkly at them, slumping down in his seat once more that class period. Behind the girls, several boys were snickering at Hayner's defeat. Inwardly, Olette was doing the exact same thing. The once fighting girls looked away from the dejected dirty blond to resume their previous argument. Hayner pouted and sighed huffily.

"Everyone hates me!" he complained in a childish tone.

"Well, if Roxas is going to be Romeo," Kairi chimed from her spot at the front of the classroom, "then I think Olette should be Juliet!"

"What?" Both Olette and Roxas snapped out of their reveries simultaneously at Kairi's suggestion.

"Hmm. Yes, I think so, too," Leon agreed quietly from his chair behind his desk, hanging his head as he did so.

"What?" Olette shrilled, this time by herself. This only confirmed her suspicions that Leon was conspiring against her. Now she had to deal with the new theory of both Kairi and Leon conspiring against her together.

"But I never said I was going to be Romeo," Roxas exasperated. "Even if I was, do you honestly think I would want Olette to be my Juliet?"

"See!" Kairi sang sweetly, a wide grin appearing on her face once more. "Olette even rhymes with Juliet. It's perfect!"

"For crying out loud…" Roxas slapped the palm of his hand against his forehead. He started scolding himself for not referring to Olette by her last name as he usually did.

"No way," Olette disagreed calmly while shaking her head and crossing her arms over her chest. "I refuse."

"There's no way Olette can be Juliet!" one of Roxas' rabid fan girls yelled from the circle of girls who had been arguing over the subject. "Because I want to be Roxas' Juliet!"

The boys all cowered back in their desks when the girls started up another heated debate about who was going to be Juliet along side Roxas, who had apparently been forced into being Romeo. He sat back and watched with disturbance crystal clear on his face. The poor blond didn't even want to be in the play, let alone get the lead roll of the tragic romance. Just when the girls were about to break out into violence and punch each other, Leon shot up in his chair and slammed his hands against his desk.

"Enough," the teacher said calmly without so much as raising his voice. Even then, the girls fell quiet and glanced back worriedly at Leon. "Everyone pull out a piece of paper," Leon ordered, "and write down the roles I wrote down on the whiteboard."

Olette glimpsed up from her desk to the whiteboard to see that Leon had written down all the roles for _Romeo and Juliet_ while the girls had been fighting amongst themselves. Just as he had requested, all the students in his class pulled out a blank sheet of paper and a pencil. Quietly, they all scribbled down the roles onto their sheets of paper.

"Now," Leon continued. "Write down the name of the student next to the role you want to vote them for."

Olette heard Roxas groan to himself from in front of her, fully aware that a majority of the girls in the class were going to vote for him to be Romeo. Angrily, he crumpled up the piece of paper he had written on and tossed it aside. The green-eyed brunette snickered to herself, enjoying the torment the other girls were causing him. She wrote down his name next to Romeo, just to piss him off. Olette thought to herself for a moment, unsure as to whom should be Juliet. After a moment's thought, she decided to vote Kairi for Juliet. Just because it was the redhead who suggested Olette should be Juliet. Quickly, she wrote down several other students' names before turning in her slip of paper. One by one, the students turned in their papers until Leon held all the sheets of paper in his hand.

The students waited anxiously as Leon went through the papers, writing down the votes on his own sheet of paper. The girls were giggling and whispering with each other, clearly hoping that it was them who got the role as Juliet. Roxas continued glaring darkly into the void, despising Shakespeare suddenly for even writing the _Romeo and Juliet_ play. Olette only waited impatiently for the votes to be tallied up, not caring very much who got which role. As long as she didn't get a role she was fine. The students watched eagerly as Leon finally stood up, preparing himself to give out the roles.

"All the roles have been filled up," he told the class as the students leaned over their desks. "For Romeo, Roxas will obviously be playing that role, seeing as how every single girl in this class voted for him."

Roxas groaned, except this time much more loudly than before. He even resorted to slamming his head on his desk out of aggravation. Behind him, Olette snickered loudly to herself. As for the rest of the girls, they cheered and gasped excitedly. Even Leon felt sorry for Roxas, and he usually showed no sympathy for others.

"Who's Juliet?" one girl demanded. "Who? Who, who, who?"

"For Juliet…" Leon began. The girls leaned forward in excitement, some of them even digging their fingernails into their desks. "With a total of four votes…" Olette could hear all the anticipating girls inhale deeply. "…The role will be played by Olette."

The air in the room suddenly grew still as all the girls died a little bit on the inside. Their faces fell, and some even grew sickly pale. Some of the girls could only blink at their teacher with deadpanned faces. Fearing for their lives, several boys scooted as far away as possible from the rejected girls. Leon even retreated to safety behind his desk. Up at the front of the classroom, Kairi was smirking triumphantly to herself. Roxas had snapped his head up, pulled out of his trance for the millionth time that class period, and stared back at Leon with his jaw hanging wide open. Cautiously, both Hayner and Pence slowly glanced over at Olette to see how she was taking the news. The brunette blinked up at Leon, refusing to let the news click in.

"…What?" she finally said, tilting her head to the side. There was just no way it was her. The only logical explanation was that Leon was tormenting her again.

Every single girl in the classroom glared threateningly at Olette, who was still oblivious to what Leon had just announced. Smirking, Hayner turned to Olette in his seat and said, "You know, there's a kissing scene in this play."

Roxas' jaw dropped again at the mention of the horrid scene. Olette's green pools widened at what her friend said, finally letting all that had happened sink in. Swiftly, she jumped out of her seat and shot up to her feet. She slammed her hands against the top of her desk with a deranged look on her face and sent Leon her most pleading look, begging for him to admit he was merely joking.

"WHAT?" Olette shrieked, the color draining from her face.

° ˚ • ◊ • ˚ °

"Places, people!" Leon ordered from the front row of seats. However, the students were much too busy chatting excitedly to each other to pay attention to their teacher. Leon scowled to himself when no one listened to him. "Hey! I said places, people! You, over there! Are you listening to me?"

Leon lost his train of thought and went on a tangent, demanding the attention and respect he thought he deserved from his acting students.

It was just the first day of rehearsal, and students were running around the stage to where they were supposed to be. The props were set up, and actors were standing where they were supposed to be. As surprising as it was, Leon was picky about how the play looked to the audience, and would yell at the teens if they made even the tiniest mistake. Olette stood in the middle of the entire chaos, a script in her hand. There was no way she was going to memorize all her lines, especially since she could barely understand what was coming out of her own mouth. Nonetheless, Leon wouldn't hear of it and refused to let one of the other girls play Juliet. For the time being, she was stuck as the star.

Albeit the minor mistakes and slight delays, the rehearsal had gone smoothly. Already, they were on act one, scene five. How they had managed to get that far, Olette was unsure. While the acting itself had gone smoothly, the behavior of the students was anything but productive. Every so often, during the breaks, people would distract themselves with random conversations. This led to Leon being ignored when he barked orders. Off to the side stood Roxas, simply fuming at the idea of having to share a scene with Olette. While the blond had hated the idea of being starred as Romeo, he was surprisingly decent at his acting. But even then, he made sure everyone in the play knew he hated being the star.

"To be or not to be? That is the question!" Hayner dramatized in an overly enthusiastic voice. He had his arm stretched out as he posed for the line he recited.

Kairi stared at him blankly, unable to put into words how stupid he had just made himself appear. "Hayner, that's _Hamlet_."

He glanced back innocently at the redhead, obviously confused by what she had just pointed out. "Is that the wrong play?" Hayner inquired. Kairi could only slap the palm of her hand against her forehead as she groaned.

Olette glared angrily into the void, blocking Leon's voice out of her head. She didn't even notice Kairi skipping up to her with a script in her hand and a smile on her face. Close behind her were Hayner and Pence. Hayner was still trying to figure out which exact play their homeroom was going to act out for the festival. The brunette blinked out of her trance and directed her attention to the three friends before her.

"Hey there, Juliet," Kairi teased with a wink.

Olette frowned. "Shut up."

"Oh, don't be that way!" the redhead giggled as she waved her script around in the air. "I'm kind of jealous. You got the good part and all I get to play is Lady Capulet." That was when Kairi suddenly frowned, if only for a moment. "Who even voted for me to be Lady Capulet?"

The redhead quickly glared at Hayner and Pence when the two of them snickered loudly to themselves, making it obvious that it had been the two of them who put Kairi's name down for Lady Capulet.

"If it makes you feel any better," Olette sighed while hanging her head, "I voted for you to be Juliet." She quickly looked up, frowning once more. "How did I even win with four votes?"

"All the other girls put their name down for Juliet," Kairi explained matter-of-factly, like it was simple. "I guess there were four people who didn't want to be Juliet?"

Olette would have missed the impish smirks on her three friends' faces if she had blinked. Luckily, she didn't. The green-eyed brunette scowled almost instantly with anger burning in her eyes.

"You three put me down for Juliet, didn't you?" she demanded.

The snickers she got out of Kairi, Hayner, and Pence were all the answers she needed. Olette let out a frustrated noise, throwing her head back and grabbing her hair as she did so. For a moment, the other students sent her curious glances before returning back to their previous conversations. She hung her head again, shaking it this time.

"I hate my role," she snarled to herself.

"I kind of like my character," Hayner boasted with a proud look on his face. "I get to be Mercutio. He's the cool one, right?"

Olette stared expressionless at him before answering, "He's the one who dies."

A look of pure horror erupted onto Hayner's face. Clearly, he knew nothing about the play they were acting out otherwise he would have known the fate of his character. Hayner ran out onto the edge of the stage, glaring angrily at Leon.

"Leon! You gave me a character who dies! You did that on purpose, didn't you?" Hayner complained in a whiny voice. Behind him, Kairi and Pence were laughing to themselves. Olette was too upset about how things had turned out to enjoy her friend's misery.

"Wait?" Olette spoke up suddenly when something nagged her at the back of her mind. "If you three voted for me to be Juliet, the who was the last person that voted for me?"

Her question was never answered because it was at that exact moment that their homeroom teacher decided to regain order. Leon only ignored Hayner's complaints as he continued shouting at lazing students. "Everyone, get into your positions!" he barked, now becoming aggravated with the lack of obedience. "We're starting up with act one, scene five! Romeo and Juliet finally get to meet each other, so pay attention and _get back to work_!"

When Leon had raised the volume of his voice, the students snapped out of it and rushed over to where they were supposed to be. As the students ran around trying to find their positions, Leon sat back down in his seat while rubbing his temples. He wasn't surprised in the least bit that he had a headache. Whatever the prize was, it had better have been damn worth all the torture he was going through. The scene went on with the students acting out their roles. Apprehensively Olette stood off to the side and waited until it was her time to speak. She wasn't looking forward to it at all. Apparently, not only did she have to repeat her difficult lines, but she also had to dance with Roxas. Just the very thought of it made her shudder. Then there was also the fact that there was a kissing scene.

Olette almost vomited in her mouth, the only thing stopping her being the sound of Leon's voice.

"Olette!" he shouted from his spot in the front row. "You're up! Move your ass!"

The only reason she moved was because Leon struck her as PMSing. And that was something she didn't want to deal with. Slowly, Olette waddled her way over to the center of the stage were Roxas was currently standing. When she approached him, she could make out the clear expression of revulsion on his face. She felt the exact same way, but bit her tongue so as to not make any snide remarks. For a moment, the two simply stared each other down, one apprehensive and the other vexed. Olette's head suddenly felt dizzy from the bright lights shining on her and the idea of performing with Roxas in front of other people. Everyone all ready knew how uncivilized they acted with each other, so she could only imagine how they would react when they found out the two of them actually had to act together.

"Well?" Leon sighed from somewhere in the distance, his voice thick with aggravation. "You two have to dance with each other. So take her hand, Roxas!"

Roxas' face contorted into a scowl. "I have to _touch_ her?"

Olette would have slapped him across his face had Leon not interjected.

"Just _do it_!" the teacher snarled through clenched teeth. No one had to look over to know his face was burning red from irritation.

Quickly, a little bit too quickly, Roxas took Olette's hand and placed his other free hand on her waist. Simultaneously, the two of them frowned, disliking the idea of having to interact with each other completely. Nevertheless, Olette gripped his hand firmly in hers and placed her other one on his shoulder. Roxas took note of how small her hand really was, and how it still somehow fit perfectly in his. Still, the two locked eyes only to increase the hatred in their frowns. Olette could almost feel the Cheshire cat-like grin on Kairi's face from behind her. Plus, it was hard not to hear Hayner and Pence laughing like idiots to themselves. This only irked her nerves more.

"If I profane with my unworthiest hand," Roxas instantly began reciting, somehow memorizing his lines in very little time. The boy didn't even have to glance at his script.

Suddenly, Olette's brain shut off. She wasn't sure why, but just having to listen to the Shakespearean sonnets put her to sleep. It didn't help any that Roxas was actually good at what he was doing. He went from scowling at her with a frown full of odium and hatred to staring down at her with a flirtatious smile on his face, something Romeo must have been doing during the scene with Juliet. For a moment, Olette felt her repulsion disappeared, only to be replaced by a swoon feeling. She tried to brush it aside, but found it rather difficult when she actually became impressed by how well Roxas pulled off Romeo.

"…To smooth that rough touch with a tender kiss," Roxas finished up his lines, keeping the warm smile on his pale face.

The stage fell quiet when Olette didn't speak up. All she could do was stare blankly back up at Roxas, her lines completely erased from her memory. Leon, giving up, slumped back into his seat and slapped the palm of his hand against his face. Roxas quickly replaced the smile on his face with his usual frown.

"Say your lines," he hissed to her in a hushed voice.

"Oh!" Olette's brain began functioning properly once more. She scanned her script quickly before reciting, "Good pilgrim, you do wrong your hand too much—"

Leon groaned loudly to himself when Olette pulled away from Roxas so as to pout down at her teacher from the stage. The students around her sighed in exasperation and even Roxas had to huff and roll his eyes. Olette, nonetheless, stood defiantly in front of Leon with her hands on her hips.

"Okay, seriously," she complained, using a matter-of-factly tone of voice. "I have no idea what I'm even saying. Couldn't we at least do a modern version of _Romeo and Juliet_? At least that way I know what the hell I'm saying!"

"What, so you can all talk like the idiots you already are?" Leon argued, reverting back to his usual calm tone. "No. Now get back into your character and say your lines."

Begrudgingly, Olette got back into a dancing position with Roxas. He didn't even try to replace his frown with the smile he had been acting with before. No, instead he scowled down at Olette and was even reluctant to take her hand back in his. Sighing irritatingly to herself, she looked back up into his face with a smile she thought Juliet would have given Romeo.

"Which mannerly devotion shows in this," she said loudly, forcing herself to sound happy, while reading her lines from her script she was holding. "For saints have hands that pilgrims' hands do touch, and palm to palm is holy palmers kiss."

No matter how much Olette wrapped her mind around it, she couldn't figure out what Juliet was trying to tell Romeo. Though, something in the back of her mind told her that Juliet was attempting to flirt. At least, that's what Olette figured. She guessed it was either that or telling Romeo off. Judging by the smile that Roxas finally forced back onto his face, it wasn't the latter. When the smile reappeared, Olette felt Roxas pull her in closer suddenly. Her breath caught short in her throat, but even then she found herself refusing to drift away from her Juliet character.

"Have not saints lips, and holy palmers too?" Roxas breathed, craning his head down so that their faces were just centimeters apart. What unnerved Olette the most was how comfortable the blond boy was with all of this.

The brunette gulped, tearing her eyes away from Roxas' sapphire ones so that she could look at what her next line was. Feeling unsettled, Olette forced herself to glance back into his eyes while keeping the tiny smile on her face and quoted, "Ay, pilgrim, lips that they must use in prayer."

Though she wasn't quite too sure what was really going on, Olette couldn't help but feel that this was the weirdest type of flirting she had ever come across. And while she knew it was a different time and era, never would she understand the whole concept of the playful teasing going on in the play. She was soon pulled away from her inner complaining when Roxas suddenly tugged on her and brought her closer to him. Olette yelped suddenly to herself, but it went unnoticed by everyone else. While the glares she was receiving from the other girls in the class bothered her, it was the lack of distance between her face and Roxas' that disturbed her the most.

"Oh, then, dear saint, let lips do what hands do!" Roxas said with enough believable enthusiasm that even Olette forgot he was acting. Even though she could barely translate most of her lines, she was absolutely certain that Roxas (or Romeo, being the case) had just asked to kiss her. "They pray; grant thou, lest faith turn to despair."

Her head felt dangerously light all of a sudden. Olette had only skimmed through her script very quickly, but she could tell the kissing scene she had been dreading was approaching rapidly. She felt her heartbeat increase in speed, thumping rapidly in her chest and drumming loudly in her ears. As much as she wanted to, she couldn't ignore the heat that instantly rushed to her face. No doubt her face was now a bright pink color of sorts. Her mind had gone blank, now working robotically rather than connected to the rest of Olette's body. And even though she wanted everything to end where it was, her lips moved and she could hear her voice recite her lines.

"Saints do not move," she whispered as she tried to control her shallow breathing, "though grant for prayers' sake."

"Then move not while my prayer's effect I take," Roxas breathed quietly, his expression softening to his change in mood. Getting too much into the character of Romeo, Roxas brought his hand up and caressed Olette's cheek as he hunched over to bring their faces closer. The warmth in her face increased along with the tension on the stage. Olette could feel the other girls' jealousy double along with her sudden lack of reluctance. She found herself leaning in towards Roxas, but not as Juliet. Their lips were just mere centimeters away from contact. "Thus from my lips, by thine my sin is purg'd," he whispered, his breath tickling her skin, as he pulled Olette's face closer with the hand he left resting on her cheek.

Before their lips had a chance to meet in a Shakespearean themed kiss, Olette's knees gave out from underneath her. She slipped out of Roxas' hold and collapsed to the floor with a dull thud. Roxas jumped back in shock, staring down at Olette's unconscious body with widened blue eyes. Olette lay at his feet, sprawled out on the floor with a pained smile on her brightly pink face. Her script lay at her feet, left open on where the two had left off. Somewhere in the subconscious of Olette's mind, she was cursing Roxas for being too good at acting as Romeo. Some of the other students gasped in alarmed shock, while Kairi rushed out over to Olette to see what was wrong. She hovered over the brunette's body, examining her for any signs of fatigue and such.

"Holy crap!" Roxas exclaimed when Olette hit the floor. He had been too surprised to react properly, and was stuck staring at the unconscious girl while Kairi tended to her.

"What happened?" Leon demanded, jumping to his feet.

Everyone remained silent as Kairi loomed over Olette for a moment longer. The redhead glanced back up at her homeroom teacher, one eyebrow raised in perplexity.

"She fainted," Kairi replied, sounding puzzled by her own statement.

"Are you serious?" Leon growled frustratingly to himself, slapping his hand against his face as he did so. "At this rate, we'll never make it to the famous balcony scene!"

Meanwhile, Hayner and Pence were off to the side, Pence holding his cell phone in his hand. Snickering, Hayner leaned over and asked, "Did you get all of that?"

Pence flipped his phone closed after recording the last bit of Olette's fainting scene. He looked up at his taller friend with a grin on his face. "Sure did!" he laughed. Later, the two of them were going to upload Olette fainting onto the Internet.

° ˚ • ◊ • ˚ °

While Leon was left fuming angrily to himself, the students were preparing themselves for the next scene. Because of Olette's reaction, their homeroom teacher thought it best just to skip act one, scene five and go on with the rehearsal. With the exception of the brunette fainting, everything else had gone smoothly. Olette was off hiding behind the stage, readying herself for act two, scene two. Or, as Leon called it, the famous balcony scene. She repeatedly fanned herself with her script, suddenly finding the air sticky and unbearable. Nearby, Olette caught a few girls quickly glaring at her. She rolled her eyes with a heavy sigh, finding their jealousy petty. The brunette would have gladly traded roles with them. The only reason she hadn't yet was because Leon wouldn't allow it at all. It was almost like he _was_ trying to torture her. Kairi ambled up with Olette, a water bottle in her hand. Smiling, she handed the bottle of water to the green-eyed brunette.

"Feeling better?" Kairi questioned, referring to when she had fainted.

Sighing, Olette retrieved the bottle of water from the redhead. "I've been better," she admitted. "At least the balcony scene will be the last scene we rehearse for the day, and then I can relax!"

Kairi chuckled as she sat herself down next to her brunette friend. She hugged her legs to her chest while Olette guzzled down the water. "Any idea why the balcony scene is the most famous one?"

Olette shook her head after wiping the water away from her face. "I just figured it's because that's when Juliet confesses her love for Romeo, or something like that," she guessed with a shrug of her shoulders.

"Huh," Kairi said casually, glancing up at the ceiling suddenly. "I always thought it was because Romeo talks about how he wants to have sex with Juliet."

Kairi jumped back with a gasp when Olette suddenly spat out her water with an alarmed splutter. She watched the brunette with widened, cobalt eyes as Olette choked on her water and coughed violently. When she finally regained control of her normal breathing, Olette whipped her head up and sent Kairi a petrified look.

"What?" she shrilled, her voice going high-pitched.

"Well… yeah." Kairi rubbed the back of her neck awkwardly. It was right then that she wanted to make an escape for safety, but there was no doubt Olette would chase her down until she explained her comment. "I thought you knew. Romeo goes on about how he doesn't want Juliet to be a virgin anymore, meaning that he wants to make love to her. He's actually pretty horny in this scene. The only reason it's hard to tell what he really means is because of the Shakespearean language. To some people, what Romeo says comes out as more romantic than… well, you know."

Olette stared at Kairi with her jaw hanging open and her eye twitching involuntarily. She gripped the water bottle in her hand tightly, practically crushing the plastic under her clutches. The redhead could only stare at her friend silently, realizing she had made a mistake by bringing the subject up. The brunette sprang to her feet suddenly, causing Kairi to recoil back, with horrification in her face.

"I can't do this!" she panicked, her eyes widened to the size of saucers. "I don't want to do a scene with Roxas where he has to admit he wants to have sex with me!"

"Keep your voice down!" Kairi hissed, now on her feet. She glanced nervously behind Olette when several girls looked curiously over at the panicking brunette. "You're making people stare!"

"I don't want to be Juliet!" Olette cried, now just acting childish.

"All right, people!" Leon called from the front row. "This is the last scene we'll do for today. For now we'll use that ladder over there as the balcony. Can I get Romeo and Juliet on the stage?"

Roxas stood below the ladder, leaning against it casually as he waited for Olette to show up. The only problem was Olette never did show up. The other students looked around when they realized they were missing one Juliet. Leon crossed his arms, the annoyance making its way onto his face. Roxas glimpsed over his shoulder, equally annoyed as Leon, and quickly scanned the stage for Olette.

"Where the hell is my Juliet?" Leon demanded, his voice rising dangerously in volume. Roxas couldn't blame the teacher for his mounting nerves. It had been a long day.

Blinking, Kairi looked to her side where Olette had been standing just moments ago. Her expression turned confused when she finally noticed that the spot where Olette had been standing was now empty. The auburn-haired girl tilted her head to one side, wondering how in the world Olette had managed to disappear so quickly without anyone noticing. Roxas groaned to himself when he realized Olette had run away, finally having enough with the play itself. Leon threw down his script in a furious fit, growling loudly as he did so. The students on stage slowly backed away in fear of their teacher blowing up on them.

"For the love of God, we're never going to finish this!" Leon shouted. However, he stopped when he realized all his students were gone, fleeing the stage before he could unleash his wrath on them.

Meanwhile, Olette was currently hiding in the janitor's closet until everyone was done with rehearsal. She preferred having to deal with the smell of dirty mops than having to do another scene with Roxas, especially one that involved sex talk.

° ˚ • ◊ • ˚ °

The festival was just a day away, and so far Leon's homeroom class had made little to almost no progress at all. The minor characters weren't to blame, or even the constant goofing off the student were doing. No, the one to blame was none other than Olette. Everyone else had done their part for the play. And while the class had managed to rehearse every single scene in the play, Olette managed to muck up all the ones she was in. The two worst scene being the kissing scene (which neither her nor Roxas had managed to perform yet) and the balcony scene (which Olette hadn't even gotten to act out yet because she kept disappearing before she had a chance to). Leon sat in the cushioned seat, his dark eyes staring intently at the stage as the props were being set up by the backstage crew, the student who didn't end up getting a role in the play. He saw Roxas standing idly in the middle of all the commotion, the boy skimming through his script before starting the scene. And as for Olette, Leon saw her off to the side looking around with shifty eyes and trembling at the mere thought of the kissing scene. Leon couldn't help but groan to himself and slap his forehead. That girl was going to be the death of him.

"Are we ready for act one, scene five yet?" Leon sighed heavily, resting his eyes for a moment in an attempt to calm his unraveled nerves. After opening his eyes, the teacher quickly sent his glare over at Olette. The girl flinched upon locking eyes with her homeroom teacher. "Please tell me you're not in the mood to screw up the scene today, Olette."

The brunette smiled for Leon, forcing it as best she could. Olette could feel the corners of her mouth twitching just from trying to make her obviously fake grin come off as real. "Don't worry, Leon," she chirped, her voice cracking from momentary insanity. "I'll do my best today!"

Leon shook his head slowly while sighing. He didn't trust Olette even the least bit. She was definitely up to something. The actors for that scene stood where they were supposed to be, saying their lines that they were required to recite. Olette's own mind was buzzing apprehensively with cluttered thoughts. Soon, much too soon, she would have to act as Juliet in front of who knew how many people. Even then, she still couldn't get herself to act out her part. Though she wasn't the least bit worried about that, seeing as how she figured she had the right to be reluctant about being Juliet when Roxas was Romeo, the last thing she wanted to do was disappoint her entire class. That and piss off Leon to no end. There was no doubt in her mind that she wouldn't even live through suffering the consequences for doing just that. Gulping, Olette stepped forward and performed her part with Roxas.

Things had been running smoothly so far. Leon was pleased to see at least Olette wasn't acting childish. In fact, she was definitely doing better than she had been in the past few days. However, the evil glint in her eyes did disturb him slightly. If anything, he had the unnerved feeling she was planning something wicked. Both Roxas and Olette were huddled close together, pulling off Romeo and Juliet as best they could. Despite their obvious hatred for each other, the two had managed to keep smiles on their faces that were directed at the other. Though, Leon couldn't help but admit the smiles were _too_ forced. Olette acted playful, trying to show the others around her that she could act better than Roxas could. He had shown her up too many times at too many things.

"Saints do not move," Olette recited in an enthusiastic voice, tilting her head while grinning teasingly, "though grant for prayers' sake."

"Then move not while my prayer's effect I take," Roxas replied with an alluring smile of his own, lifting Olette's chin with his hand. Fortunately, unlike last time, she had been able to control her hormones with more composure. At least her heart wasn't pounding harshly against her ribcage. The only problem was the intense heat rushing to her face, but besides that Olette thought she was doing rather well. "Thus from my lips, by thine my sin is purg'd."

Everyone held their breath, absolutely certain Olette was going to faint like the last time she rehearsed this scene. Leon watched intently, hoping and praying that this time the two teens were going to get it right. Kairi had a firm grip on her script, unable to control the mischievous grin on her face. Olette leaned in, without so much as the feeling of lightheadedness. Just when everyone on stage thought that she was finally going to pull it off, Olette frowned suddenly at Roxas and brought her knee up swiftly. With a cry of pain, Roxas toppled to the floor crouched over into a pathetic heap. The students gawked, several girls gasped dramatically, and Leon was slapping the palm of his hand against his face once more. He was foolish to think Olette was actually going to be able to do the kissing scene. Instead, though, she just ended up kneeing the poor boy in the crotch. Hayner and Pence were off to the side, cringing in pain by just merely glancing at the pitiful sight of Roxas writhing on the floor in agony. They knew his pain all too well.

"Olette!" Kairi gasped when the brunette stomped off stage, brushing past the redhead in an angered frenzy. While Leon was shouting obscenity from his seat, Roxas was choking out curses at Olette, the girls were crying for Roxas out of sympathy, and several of the guys in her class started snickering evilly to themselves, she herself stormed away from the stage to find her backpack and hightail it out of there. If any of them thought that she was actually willing to kiss Roxas in front of people as an act, then they were sadly mistaking.

Unfortunately, Leon got to her before she got to her backpack.

° ˚ • ◊ • ˚ °

"You're going to clean up this entire place!" Leon scolded calmly, though Olette could easily make out the venom in his voice. She recoiled back at the sharpness of his words. "Tomorrow is the actual play. Mess it up like you did today and you're a dead girl, understand?"

Olette glanced up at her teacher when he shoved a broom at her, hitching up a curious eyebrow. "Isn't it against the rules for teachers to threaten students?" she asked him with a quivering voice.

"Rules were meant to be broken," he snarled, his tone of voice dangerously quite. Yelping, Olette hurried off without so much as another smart aleck remark.

As it turned out, Leon was less than happy about Olette actually kneeing Roxas during the middle of the rehearsal. She had told him repeatedly it was merely reflexes and she hadn't done it on purpose. The frightening teacher saw right through her pathetic lie. Before the brunette had a chance to make a hasty escape from school, her homeroom teacher cornered her and began yelling at her for her "moronic stupidity." With all harsh words aside, Leon managed to calm himself down long enough to dish out a punishment worthy of Olette. The teacher had dismissed the rest of the students, leaving Olette alone so that she may clean up the stage. All. By. Herself.

At first outraged by the suggestion, Olette gradually decided it was better than anything else Leon had might have considered. With the broom in one hand, Olette shoved the heavy door aside and ambled quietly into the backstage. The entire auditorium was quiet now that the rest of the students had gone home. Her quick steps echoed loudly all around her, giving the brunette an eerie sense of utter loneliness. She stepped out onto the stage with the props still set up, deciding it was best to sweep the entire stage first. Once she looked up after hearing the noise of an already sweeping broom, she immediately began wishing that she was in fact alone in the creepy auditorium. Roxas looked up from his broom when he sensed her presence, and instantly he sent her his darkest glower yet.

"What the hell are you doing here?" he spat, obviously still upset about what she had done. She would have retorted harshly, but even she thought he had a right to be angered at her.

"Leon's making me clean up the stage by myself," she replied in a snippy tone. While he did have a right to be mad at her, she was less than appreciative of his snarky tone.

"What the hell?" Roxas shouted as he stopped his sweeping. "Why would he do that when he told me I had to clean up the stage?"

Olette stared long and hard at Roxas, her mouth slightly opened in outraged confusion. It was official. Leon was conspiring against both her and Roxas. Maybe Kairi was to blame for this as well? If that meant that both she and Roxas were the only ones left to clean the stage, it meant that they were alone. This didn't help out her anxious nerves at all, considering Roxas was currently glaring daggers into her and most likely plotting a way to get revenge. And with no witnesses around, nothing was stopping him. Swallowing the painful lump in her throat down, Olette raised her chin slightly into the air and stared back at Roxas defensively.

"He just enjoys torturing us," she said, keeping her voice snippy. "You can clean that side of the stage, and I'll clean this one."

"Tell you what," Roxas snapped as he threw his broom down. Olette jumped back slightly at the noise it made when it fell to the floor. The blond looked back up at her, the hatred crystal clear in his blue eyes. "You can clean up this whole damn place by yourself! I'm going home!"

He began making his infuriated way to the backstage with Olette standing where she was with her jaw hanging open like an idiot. There was a black cloud practically looming over the boy, the dark scowl on his face able to kill with just one glance. Frustratingly, he ran his hand through his spikes. The sight of Olette alone only angered the hurt boy much more than before. And he thought reminiscing about what she did made him go crazy. The brunette regained her composure and stepped forward, her fists clenched together tightly. She knew she was treading on thin ice, but the last thing she was going to do was let Roxas think he had a right to treat her that way.

"Wait a minute!" she called after him. Surprisingly enough, Roxas came to a sudden halt in his tracks and glared at her from over his shoulder. Olette tried to control her shuddering as best as she could, but the scowl he was giving her sent shivers up and down her spine. "Why should I clean the stage by myself? If Leon told us both to clean up, then we _both_ have to do it!"

"Why should you clean by yourself?" Roxas echoed, the volume of his voice rising. "_Why?_ Because I didn't do a _damn_ thing, that's why!"

Suddenly, he began marching his way up to Olette with loathing detestation weaved into his expression. She backed away as much as she could, but found out that she wasn't going any farther when she stepped onto the edge of the stage. Olette almost toppled backwards onto the cushioned seats below when Roxas approached her and began jabbing her roughly with his finger. She wouldn't have been surprised if the boy took a swing at her. It certainly seemed like that was on his mind, what with him glaring at her like she was the most repulsive thing he ever had the displeasure of laying his eyes on. If looks could kill, Olette would have been struck dead by now. Nevertheless, she kept her posture defensive and her frown steady.

"All I did was act out my part," Roxas snarled, still poking her with his index finger. If he jabbed her any harder, he was going to send her tumbling off the stage. "I never asked to be in the play. In fact, I wanted nothing to do with this damn play! Still, I behaved and acted out my role for the sake of the class." His frown darkened, and he jabbed harder. "But _you_ had to be the little bitch you are and knee me. Right. In. The. Crotch!"

With one final jab Olette was sent stumbling backwards. Gasping loudly, she flailed her arms around in a desperate attempt to regain her balance. The girl failed miserably at doing so and felt her feet being swept out from underneath her. Yelping to herself, Olette closed her eyes and felt herself falling backwards through the air. Suddenly, the falling stopped and she hovered in midair with something coiling tightly around her hand. Olette quickly opened up her eyes only to see Roxas had reached out in time to grab her hand and prevent her from falling. This didn't keep him from maintaining the threatening pout on his face, however. Before Olette could straighten herself up, Roxas gave a hard tug on her hand and sent the brunette staggering forward. Unable to control her balance, Olette crashed into Roxas and momentarily used him as a support since he refused to let go of the tight grip he had on her hand. Glancing up into his face was a mistake on her part, since this only gave her a better view of the sullen pout on his pale face.

"It's just _acting_, Gainsborough," Roxas breathed darkly, his breath tingling against her face. The look in his eyes was so dark, Olette actually had to glance down at her feet in fear of dying from an instant heart attack. "Get over yourself."

With that said and out in the open, Roxas threw her hand aside and swiftly turned his back on the baffled brunette. Apparently, during the time he used to yell at her, the blond had decided to stay and clean up after all. Rather than storming off into the backstage, Roxas trudged over to the broom he had abandoned. He picked it up and began sweeping with more strength than was necessary. Olette frowned to herself, now staring daggers right back at Roxas.

"You almost made me fall off the stage!" she snapped at him from where she still stood. "I could have gotten hurt!"

The blond stopped sweeping the stage for a moment so he could quickly glance back at Olette from over his shoulder. "Unlike you," he said quietly with brooding eyes, "I can refrain myself from hurting you."

Olette felt there was deeper meaning behind Roxas' words, like he was perhaps talking about more than kneeing him. But seeing as how she couldn't wrap her mind around the blond's hidden meaning, Olette simply brushed his comment aside. Actually, she was kind of insulted by it. Roxas made her sound like a violent savage, going around and just randomly hurting people. That wasn't true at all. She only did that to him for obvious reasons. And Hayner—on occasions. The girl hurried back to her own broom and quickly started sweeping the floor, pouting.

"It's not like it was my intention to knee you. It was just a reflex," she spoke up in a huffy tone with her back to the boy. Behind her she could hear Roxas still sweeping, like he was ignoring her. "I actually have no problem acting out the scene with you."

Even though, in reality, she really did.

"Oh, really?" Roxas sounded skeptic, sarcasm evident in his tone. "Then why couldn't you do so before, huh?"

Olette kept her eyes on the floor, now robotically sweeping the dust around her. She could tell Roxas stopped sweeping since she could no longer hear him doing so. He was most likely glaring back at her, impatiently waiting for her false explanation.

"Stage fright," she answered lamely. As ridiculous as she found her answer to be, the girl kept her defensive tone.

"Well," Roxas huffed, sweeping once more. "No one's around now. We're alone." Even with the blond using a defensive tone, his blunt comments caused Olette to tense up in apprehension. "Stage fright shouldn't be a problem for you now."

The brunette gulped loudly to herself, increasing her sweeping in speed. She failed to clean up the mess, but instead just created a dust cloud around her feet. The two fell into an awkward silence as they continued sweeping the floor with their backs to each other. Olette had tightened her grip on the broom, threatening to snap the wooden pole in half. While Roxas should have been correct, there was just no way Olette would ever be able to pull off the scene. Even if they were alone, she was more than likely to just end up kneeing him again. Her hectic thoughts were interrupted when Roxas suddenly broke the silence, his tone of voice much different from the enraged one he had been using with her just moments before.

"If I profane with my unworthiest hand," Roxas began reciting, slowing down the pace of his sweeping. Olette's head perked up, her eyes widening from alarm. Was he actually trying to act out the scene with her while they were _alone_? In the very back of her mind, she was damning Leon to hell. No doubt this was his plan from the start. "This holy shrine, the gentle fine is this. My lips, two blushing pilgrims, ready stand. To smooth that rough touch with a tender kiss."

Olette swallowed hard and played along. "Good pilgrim, you do wrong your hand too much," the girl replied huffily, trying the best she could to keep her voice from quivering. "Which mannerly devotion shows in this. For saints have hands that pilgrims' hands do touch. And palm to palm is holy palmers' kiss."

As surprised as she was, it turned out that she no longer needed for script as a guide. While before her lines would instantly melt away from her memory, they seemed permanently burned into her memory now. Roxas stopped sweeping and turned halfway to glance back at her. Olette looked up from the floor she had been reciting to and met the blond's gaze. Roxas was no longer scowling, but his smile he used when he was acting wasn't evident as well. Instead, his expression was completely blank and void of emotion.

"Have not saints lips, and holy palmers too?" Roxas questioned, acting as Romeo.

"Ay, pilgrim," Olette responded, her voice going high pitched for a moment, "lips that they must use in prayer."

"Oh, then, dear saint, let lips do what hands do!" the blond boy exclaimed, now throwing his broom aside and quickly sauntering up to Olette. The grip on her broom tightened to the point where her knuckles turned white.

"Eep!" was the odd little noise she made when Roxas suddenly reached out and wrapped his arm around her waist. He yanked her forward, forcing her into a sultry, one-armed embrace. The broom was wedged awkwardly between the two, Olette still suffocating it with her death-like grip. Olette looked up to see if he was wearing any sort of expression. The only problem was his face was still blank, unreadable. She could tell that he was doing this just to tease and torment her, probably trying to get revenge on her. After all, it was a logical explanation for Roxas' sudden interest in acting out act one, scene five while the two were completely alone. It would have been easier to tell if Roxas allowed himself to show the teensiest sign of emotion.

"They pray; grant thou, lest faith turn to despair," he recited eagerly.

Roxas' sapphire eyes were too intense to look into. So Olette averted her gaze by quickly turning her head away from him and squeezing her eyes shut. Unlike before, during this scene, she couldn't control what was happening to her. She could easily tell her face was bright pink by now, and her heart rattled incessantly inside her ribcage. The painful lump returned to her throat, and no matter how many times she kept trying to swallow it down it wouldn't go away. Her fevered breathing caught in her throat as she tried to recite,

"S-Saints do not m-move, though grant for p-prayers' sake."

Roxas forced her to look back at him when he placed his hand on her burning face and turned her head so she was looking forward again. Olette's eyes fluttered open, reluctant to look back up into his face. Her green eyes widened when Roxas hunched over and brought his face dangerously close to hers.

"Then move not while my prayer's effect I take," he whispered with his lips just inches away from her own. "Thus from my lips, by thine my sin is purg'd."

Roxas hesitated momentarily, simply staring back down at Olette. The brunette's lips were parted slightly and her eyes were half-lidded, unable to fully comprehend anything. She kept her dazed stare on Roxas' own lips, unable to hold back her curiosity. Suddenly, stage fright seemed like such a foolish thing. Giving in to her curiosity, Olette closed her eyes and slowly leaned forward. Just when she thought things were going to get interesting, she felt Roxas slowly pull away as he snickered to himself. Stunned, Olette quickly opened her eyes and stared up at Roxas' smirking face with bewilderment. The blond let go of his grasp he had on her waist and turned his back to her, unable to control his loud snickering.

"See, Gainsborough?" Roxas flashed her a devious, lopsided smirk from over his shoulder. "Acting is easy."

Olette stood dumbfounded with her face burning bright red. But this time, her face was glowing red from embarrassed rage. With her jaw slack and her hands still holding on tightly to her broom, she watched Roxas walk away from her while chuckling. The blond jumped casually off the stage and landed perfectly on his feet. As he headed towards the exit with his backpack in hand, Roxas waved at Olette without so much as turning around to face her. He didn't have to. She knew he was simpering wickedly along with inwardly laughing at her and making a mockery of the poor brunette.

"Clean this up, will you, Gainsborough?" Roxas cackled, running the hand he had been waving with through his blond hair. Without even looking back to see the expression on Olette's face, he walked right through the doors and out of the brunette girl's sight.

Olette continued standing in her spot, the red patch of color refusing to leave her face. She stared back at the door, her jaw hanging open and her eyes wide from disbelief. Her hands trembled, the pent up rage getting to her. Anger bubbled and fizzed in the pit of her stomach, causing the wrath to coarse violently through her veins. The girl stood quivering with fury, unable to say a word so merely stood in an angered silence. Not only was Olette frustrated, but she also felt humiliated beyond belief. Olette narrowed her green eyes to the point where they were nothing more than slits. She glared at the doors with the hatred she had for Roxas, wishing she could pierce a huge, gaping hole into the doors. Finally, when she could no longer hold in all her anger, Olette screamed and threw her broom down.

"I'll teach you to humiliate and embarrass me, Nohart!" she swore, huffing and wheezing vexingly. "Let's see how much you can embarrass me at the actual play when I make you look like the idiot! You'll rue the day you crossed paths with me!"

Olette smirked impishly when her evil and vengeful scheme formulated in her head. Roxas was going down, she would make sure of it.

° ˚ • ◊ • ˚ °

The school was crowded with students and parents alike. Every curious soul in Twilight Town stumbled their way into the high school, fully aware of the Students Arts Festival that was taking place. Booths and displays were set up to show the work of every single homeroom that participated. As for Leon's homeroom, they had set up posters informing passersby of the play taking place and directing them to the auditorium. The breeze out was refreshing, yellow and orange leaves drifting about in the soft wind. The sky looming above the high school was its usual soft orange and red colors. The beauty of the sky went unnoticed as the people found themselves fascinated and intrigued by the art the students had put on display.

"Whoa!" Selphie gasped in mild-mannered shock. There was no need for her to sneak backstage to steal a quick conversation with her friends because the students putting on the play were lounging lazily about in front of the stage. As much as it irked Leon, the students tried to relax their anxious nerves by conversing casually with their friends before the play started up. The auditorium was already halfway filled with people excited about the students performing Shakespeare. "You guys are performing _Romeo and Juliet_?" the chestnut-haired girl breathed excitedly with her bright green eyes lighting up. "You guys are lucky! All my homeroom did was make macaroni collages."

"Aww, see!" Hayner whined loudly in an irritated tone. He was already dressed in his Mercutio outfit. "I told you macaroni collages was a good idea, but Leon wouldn't listen to me!"

"Personally, I prefer _Romeo and Juliet_ to your macaroni collage idea," Kairi teased with a warm smile, also dressed in her Lady Capulet costume.

"That's because it was your idea!"

"Who's playing the two main roles?" Selphie asked eagerly, already fantasizing about the romantic part of the play. "Tell me who's Juliet!"

Kairi smirked, but with friendly intentions. "Olette."

Selphie's already widened eyes grew bigger in size. "And Romeo?"

"Roxas," Hayner snickered, easily amused by Olette's misery.

Selphie gasped slowly, the corners of her mouth turning up into a girlish smile. She squealed so loudly that Kairi, Yuffie, Hayner, and Pence had to clasp their hands over their ears. Kairi had obviously done good, at least from Selphie's perspective. Some of the students acting in the play that were also goofing off around in the audience before show time glanced curiously at the five, wondering what the heck had been that high pitched noise. Selphie calmed herself down long enough to glimpse around herself quickly. The curly haired girl looked back at Kairi, perplexity apparent on her round face.

"Where _is_ Olette?" Selphie asked.

Kairi didn't need to answer, because at that exact moment Olette came stomping out from the backstage with Leon yelling something at her. The brunette looked absolutely infuriated, the deranged expression on her face seething. The three girls standing below the stage looked up when they noticed Olette's arrival, gasping excitedly at the sight of her. Hayner and Pence gawked, taking note on how this was the first and last time they were going to see Olette in a dress. Much like the other girls in the play, Olette had on a dress. Though, hers was more intricate and fancy compared to the others. It was a deep pink color, coming off as more red than pink. The dress was a low-cut (much to Olette's horror) and the long sleeves were designed so that the brunette's shoulders were bare. Black lace ran up and down Olette's front, entangled together in a messy bow at the top. Unlike Kairi's dress, Olette's wasn't poofy but ran straight down her figure ending near her ankles. It flowed elegantly around her legs, the fabric light in the air. Olette wore modern day black wedges on her feet, which were tied up with the laces running up her legs.

"Damn Shakespeare and his era!" Olette seethed as she held the hem of her dress up so she wouldn't trip and fall flat on her face. "I refuse to wear a dress! I refuse it!"

"It's a little too late, especially since they already got it on you," Yuffie joked, grinning up at the sight of Olette. She really couldn't blame the angered brunette, especially since she, too, would never be caught dead wearing a dress.

Olette huffed angrily, making an upset groan as she did so. Selphie bounced up to the edge of the stage. The chestnut-haired girl stood on her toes and leaned up against the edge of the stage. Olette glanced down and look right at the beaming smile Selphie was flashing up at her.

"You look so pretty, Olette!" Selphie complimented, though it did nothing to rid Olette of her frown. "I love what they did with your hair!"

A tiara sort of hairpiece sat on Olette's head, glinting in the bright lights that shone down on the stage. Olette's hair tumbled down her back (instead of over her shoulders like they usually did) in ornate swirls, beautifully wavy. The students that had prettied her up had managed to get the strands of her hair that always stuck out away from her head to stick down in a normal fashion, now making her brunette hair give off a choppy, layered look. Her hair shined blindingly in the light, as if she had just finished shampooing the crap out of it. The girl's hair bounced when she straightened up, crossing her arms and pouting down at Selphie.

"I feel like a Barbie doll," the brunette complained while she inwardly started plotting her revenge on Leon for making her be Juliet.

"If you're this pretty," Selphie continued as she ignored Olette's huffy fit, "I wonder how hot Roxas turned out to be." She sent Olette a toothy grin her way.

Olette narrowed her eyes, suddenly finding it fit to kick Selphie in the face with one of her wedges. "I hope the puffy pants make him look retarded," she snapped, raising her chin into the air. Which turned out to be a bad idea, because as she did so she looked directly into the bright lights and momentarily blinded herself.

"Actually," Kairi interjected, "I heard Romeo wasn't wearing puffy pants. Something about it not being sexy enough or whatever." The redhead shrugged while the dressed up brunette whipped her head around and stared outraged down at her.

"What?" Olette seethed, stomping her foot. "And who said puffy pants weren't sexy enough for Romeo?"

"Who else?" Kairi arched an eyebrow up at Olette. "Roxas' fan girls."

Olette sighed heavily, pressing her hand to her forehead. "Of course…"

So while she had to dress up like an idiot, Roxas would get to wear what he wanted?

"Olette! Get back here!" Leon barked from backstage. "We can't have people seeing Juliet before the play even starts! And we still need to put makeup on you!"

Olette shuddered at the thought of having to put on makeup. Selphie, however, simply beamed at the idea of getting to see the brunette in some makeup for once. Luckily for Olette, her moment of doomed was stalled when someone yelled from the backstage. She looked up at the commotion and heard a struggle going on, most likely another actor throwing a tantrum.

"Get off me!" Roxas demanded as he stumbled onto the stage, trying to pry the students dressing him up off him. He looked absolutely infuriated, his blue eyes narrowed and his teeth gritted tightly together. Brushing off his sleeve, Roxas looked up and accidentally locked eyes with Olette.

He seemed stunned for a moment at her appearance, probably unable to recognize her right away. Olette quickly scrutinized his outfit, her eyes trailing up and down his figure. Kairi had been right. Roxas wasn't wearing puffy pants like some of the other male actors. A majority of his outfit was purple. As unmanly as that may have sounded, Roxas managed to pull it off without giving up his masculinity. He wore a purple tunic-like top that went just inches past his waist. His tunic had gold trimming on it. Around his waist was a black belt with a silver buckle, a sheath attached to the belt with a rapier in it. The sword in Roxas' sheath was most likely fake, considering they were still in school and all. Roxas wore black stockings with brown boots snaking up his legs to his knees. The only remotely odd thing on him had to be the black gloves that reached his elbows, the fingers on the gloves cut off. Unlike Olette's hair, Roxas had left his alone without trying to comb it for his role as Romeo.

After Roxas realized he had been gawking at Olette the whole time, he quickly blinked his eyes and looked away from her. She quickly made out the pout on his face before the students chased after Roxas onto the stage. They had been the same students who were trying to dress the blond up before he attempted to make an escape. They all grabbed a limb on Roxas and dragged him back into the backstage kicking and screaming. Olette shook her head, turning to face her friends after she did so. She quickly caught the mischievous little grin on Selphie's face, which was directed up at her. Olette blinked and winced back out of surprise.

"What?" she snapped when she got tired of Selphie's smile.

"Your Romeo is hot," Selphie bluntly stated, the grin on her face now from ear to ear.

"Shut up!" Olette demanded, crossing her arms over her almost bare chest.

"Olette!" Leon hissed. He had suddenly appeared by the brunette's side, causing her to squeal and jump in surprise. The teacher grabbed her by the arm and began dragging her to the backstage. "Makeup. Now."

Yuffie elbowed Selphie in the ribs, earning herself the chestnut-haired girl's attention. "Better get ourselves some seats before all the good ones are taken," the ebony-haired girl said, gesturing to the seats behind them. People were still filing into the auditorium, gradually filling up the seats. Selphie nodded, and the two quickly made their leave after waving goodbye to their friends.

"So," Pence spoke up as they climbed onto the stage and brushed past the busy students still setting up the props. "You think Olette will be able to do _the_ scene this time?"

"Ten bucks says she'll flip out and fail miserably again," Hayner laughed under his breath as he quickly flashed Kairi and Pence a ten-dollar bill.

"You guys!" Kairi chided with a roll of her cobalt eyes. "This is the actual play! I don't think Olette's going to mess this up. Have faith in her."

However, Olette wasn't about to let Roxas get away with his antics that easily. And if that meant ruining the play, then so be it. Unfortunately, none of the other actors and actresses knew this. Neither did the audience and Leon. After everyone took a seat, Leon stepped out onto the stage and declared the beginning of his homeroom's version of _Romeo and Juliet_. The play began smoothly, everyone acting as they were supposed to. Even Hayner managed not to mess around like he had at rehearsal, taking his role seriously (even if he had ended up with the comedic relief as his role). But what seemed to awe the crowd the most was Roxas' performance. However, Olette was less than impressed. Though she herself recited her lines as perfectly as she could, the only one thing on her mind was getting back at Roxas. And that was soon approaching. With the play progressing smoothly, they quickly made it to act one, scene five.

When the stage crew finished setting up the props, the curtain lifted open again and the actors for the servants were currently on stage acting out the scene. The scene was set up to make it look like a party was going to take place. Candles on long stands were set up at the end of the stage, actually lit with fire. Long tables with white cloths draped over them took up some space in the middle of the stage, bowls of fake fruit and food sitting comfortably on top of them. On the cardboard backgrounds was the scenery of a ball, with people dancing and an orchestra playing music. Olette waited apprehensively as the others acted out their parts. This was the scene that Juliet and Romeo finally met each other, this was also going to be the scene where Olette acted out her revenge on Roxas. Almost too soon, she found herself on stage with Roxas, the lights shining blindingly on them and the entire audience gazing up intently at them.

"If I profane with my unworthiest hand…" Roxas began reciting loudly for the entire crowd to hear. Olette stood idly by, acting casual as she would have assumed Juliet would have done. She droned out Roxas, tired of listening to the repetition of his lines over and over again. Rehearsal had drilled and pounded practically the entire play into her mind, and she was getting sick of it. She had enough Shakespeare to last her a lifetime. Olette saw Leon in the backstage with the others, watching the two with an intense look in his dark eyes. No doubt he was waiting for Olette to screw up_ once again_. Glancing away from her teacher, she returned her attention to the blond. "…with a tender kiss."

Olette faked a light laugh and turned her back to Roxas, now looking out at the crowd. "Good pilgrim, you do wrong your hand too much," she giggled with a smile forced onto her face. She recited her small paragraph of lines before facing Roxas once again with an innocent tilt of her head.

"Have not saints lips, and holy palmers too?" Roxas asked with eager enthusiasm forced into his voice.

"Ay, pilgrim," Olette replied, her voice thick with sultry and her smile growing captivating, "lips that they must use in prayer."

Roxas took her hands in his own, forcing her to face him completely. "Oh, then, dear saint, let lips do what hands do!" he exclaimed excitedly, much too good at his acting. "They pray; grant thou, lest faith turn to despair."

Olette's once alluring smile turned into a smirk, which Roxas quickly noticed. He tried to dismiss the feeling in his stomach, but could tell Olette was up to something devious. Nevertheless, she continued with her lines, speaking loudly so that the audience in the cushioned seats could hear her.

"Saints do not move, though grant for prayers' sake," she recited casually, looking away from Roxas as if trying to dismiss Romeo's request.

"Then move not while my prayer's effect I take." Roxas placed his hand on Olette's cheek and slowly turned her head towards him. He leaned down, his own face inching closer towards Olette. She quickly closed her eyes and puckered out her lips so as to make it seem she was determined to kiss Roxas in the scene this time. "Thus from my lips, by thine my sin is purg'd."

Olette could actually hear Selphie squealing excitedly to herself from somewhere in the back of the auditorium. She actually imagined the tiny brunette thrashing her arms wildly about while Yuffie was desperate to get the excited girl to calm down. Amazingly enough, Olette wouldn't have been surprised if that had actually happened. But, much to the chagrin of Selphie all the way in the back, Olette wasn't about to let Roxas kiss her. Her hand quickly shot out and she grabbed his rapier attached to his belt. She pulled away before their lips could meet with a fierce look on her face. Roxas jumped back, staring at her in alarmed bewilderment. Off in the backstage, Leon threw his script down and slapped the palm of his hand against his face while throwing out obscenities. Just as he had feared, Olette was there to ruin the play.

The brunette held out the rapier and pointed it straight at Roxas, frowning darkly at the blond. His eyes shifted between Olette and the sword, thankful that the thing was actually a fake. The crowd gasped in incredulity, fully aware that Olette pulling a sword out on Roxas wasn't supposed to happen. The students in the backstage murmured loudly with each other, unsure what was going on or what to do about it.

"Back you demon!" Olette shouted fiercely, now just completely winging it. She jabbed the rapier at Roxas, causing the blond to back up. "You are but a Montague, come to foul up the Capulet name!"

"Dear Juliet," Roxas tittered, glancing back and forth from Olette to the audience. He held his hands up defensively as a barrier between him and the fake rapier in the brunette's hands. "I know not of what you speak." His expression quickly darkened, his nervous grin turning into a frown. "What are you doing, Gainsborough?" he hissed under his breath loud enough so that only Olette could hear him.

"You treacherous Montague have come to start up trouble with the Capulet family!" Olette declared, swaying the sword around wildly. "I will have none of it! En garde!"

Olette jabbed the rapier forward, only causing Roxas to stumble backwards. He fell to the floor in a confused daze. The blond quickly shook his head and looked up, yelping and rolling out of the way when Olette brought the fake sword down in an attempt to strike him. She could hear people from both the audience and the backstage gasping, obviously outraged by what she was doing. She wouldn't have been surprised if Leon was currently having a heart attack. Giving a battle cry, Olette chased after Roxas across the stage with the rapier waving about above her head. The blond skidded to a halt at the other end of the stage. He quickly spun on his feet to face Olette. She ran forward blindly, still waving his fake sword like a lunatic. Roxas jumped out of the way just in time to dodge the rapier. Instead of hitting the boy with the fake sword, Olette swung the rapier forward only to miss him and hit a long candle stand instead. The stand wobbled violently before collapsing to the floor completely along with its lighted candle.

Olette watched with her jaw hanging open as the lit candlestick rolled its way over to the curtain at the side of the stage. The fire of the candle came into contact with the curtain, and the entire thing went up in flames. She gasped and staggered back, her widened green eyes glued to the curtain ablaze in front of her. The students in the backstage hurried off the stage and poured out into the audience, screaming and flailing their limbs. The people at the front of the audience also got up to make a quick get away. The fire traveled across the top along the ceiling and made its way to the curtain at the other end of the stage. Now there were _two_ big fires to worry about. The fire alarm started going off, echoing loudly throughout the school. As if things weren't bad enough already, but every single sprinkler in the auditorium went off, showering the people below in cold water. Now the entire audience jumped out of their seats, dashing through the doors while screaming and yelling in a panicked state. At least the fire was put out.

"You owe me ten bucks!" Hayner chortled to both Kairi and Pence as they too tried to make a frenzied escape for safety, grinning triumphantly.

The only ones who remained on stage were Roxas and Olette, both their faces completely blank. The water soaked into their clothes and trickled down their faces. Olette's once neatly styled hair now matted against her face in thin tresses, curling up slightly because of the water. Roxas' spiky hair was no longer sticking up, but was matted down so that it was no longer defying gravity. His bangs overlapped his eyes, water dripping off the ends of his long bangs. They both stared expressionless at the scene of people panicking and leaving, shoving just so they could make it out through the crowded doors. One other person in particular stayed behind, a look of infuriated rage much too vivid on his face. Leon stood out in front of the demolished stage, scowling demonically up at Roxas and Olette.

"OLETTE!" Leon shouted over the noise of the other people screaming and the fire alarm ringing, completely losing his usual calm and collected demeanor. In fact, there was a rather deranged glint in his dark eyes.

Olette winced, managing to maintain the blank look on her face. If Leon didn't kill her, Luxord was most definitely going to when she got home.

° ˚ • ◊ • ˚ °

Olette sat apprehensively in front of the intimidating looking man, fidgeting ever so slightly in her seat. As fate would have it, Leon sent her and Roxas to the principal's office for ruining his play and setting the auditorium on fire. The girl and Roxas weren't even given a chance to change out of their costumes. She wasn't sure which was worse: Facing the wrath of Leon or facing the wrath of Principal Xemnas. His office was dark, the shades on the window behind him closed enough so that only slits of light seeped into the room. The principal was an odd looking man, with darkly tanned skin and yet silver colored hair. The two clashed badly with each other, but Olette knew it wasn't the time to mention so. Another odd thing about Xemnas' hair, besides it being silver, was that it was also long enough to reach far past his shoulders. She thought Leon's dark eyes were intimidating, but they hardly compared to Xemnas' crimson eyes. While Tifa's had also been red, the principal's eyes were more like blood. Olette forced herself to look away from her lap and locked eyes with the high school principal's red ones.

"So," Xemnas began in his baritone voice, "a little bird told me you set the stage in the auditorium on fire."

The brunette cleared her throat uncomfortably, wishing the principal would turn on some lights in his office. "It… was an accident."

"A very costly accident," Xemnas said with a shake of his head. "No doubt it'll take a lot of money to repair the damages."

Olette yelped quietly to herself, averting her gaze from the dark skinned man. She was a goner. Not only would she get expelled form school, but her dad was going to suck the life right out of her as soon as she stepped into the house. Just before she had stepped foot into Xemnas' office, she was waiting nervously outside in a chair. Roxas walked out of the principal's office, glaring down at his feet. The blond didn't even bother to look up and scowl at Olette. What his punishment had been, she wasn't sure. But if he got expelled, then surely she was going to be, too.

"Mr. Xemnas," Olette pleaded as she leaned forward slightly in her seat. "I didn't mean to set the curtains on fire, really! Honestly, why did they even put actual lit candles on the stage?" She huffed and sat back in her seat with her arms crossed. "So stupid!"

"True…" Xemnas stroked his chin, as if thinking deeply about the event. "If the candles weren't there to begin with, none of this would have happened."

"Exactly!" Olette exclaimed. "Please, Mr. Xemnas sir, don't expel me! My parents are going to kill me if I get expelled!"

"Expel you?" Xemnas repeated with alarm laced into his tone. "Who said anything about expelling you?" Olette stared confusedly at the principal when he smiled warmly back at her. "Heavens, no! Why would I resort to such drastic measures over a mere accident?"

"Huh?" Olette's only response was blinking back at the grey-haired principal.

"No, I wouldn't dream of expelling you," Xemnas chuckled. Either he was being sarcastic and tormenting Olette, or he was being completely serious. "You have nothing to worry about, Miss Gainsborough. No one is getting expelled today." He laced his fingers together and rested his chin on top of his intertwined hands. "However, someone has to go back to the auditorium and clean up that mess."

Olette continued blinking, unable to comprehend the principal's logic. She smiled suddenly, straightening up as she did so. "Well, then, I guess I'll just have to go in there and clean it myself."

"I guess so," Xemnas agreed with a shrug of his shoulders.

"Have a good day, Mr. Xemnas," Olette said while sending the principal a wave from over her shoulder.

"You too, Miss Gainsborough," the teacher replied back happily with a wave of his own. "I'll see you next Monday."

Olette hurried through the empty halls to the auditorium. Now her only problem was going home and facing her parents. That and her classmates. She groaned out loud, losing the happy gait in her stride. Suddenly, she had wished Xemnas did expel her. As she pushed the doors open, the girl could already hear the taunts and jeers of her students the following school week. Her dreary imagination was interrupted when she heard someone muttering to themselves from the stage in the auditorium. Olette looked up and saw Roxas cleaning up around the stage, mumbling incoherent words to himself while frowning down at the floor.

"Why do I have to clean this entire mess up?" Roxas asked himself, picking up the candle that had sent the curtains ablaze. "It's that lunatic's fault that all this happened, not mine."

Olette cleared her throat irritatingly, frowning now. Roxas whipped his head up in surprise, his widened blue eyes landing on Olette. He quickly dropped the candle that had been in his hand upon looking at her. After a quick moment of silence, he returned her annoyed stare with a pout of his own.

"And what did Xemnas do to you?" Roxas forced himself to ask after going back to cleaning the stage. "Come in here and make sure I clean up all this?"

"Actually," Olette replied coolly as she ambled her way quickly to the stage, "he told me I have to clean up the mess."

Roxas glanced up at her while straightening out his back. Set on his pale face was an irritated frown. "That's what he told me to do."

"Looks like we're stuck cleaning the stage," she sighed. "Again."

"You know," Roxas said aloofly, his back turned to the brunette as he cleaned up the debris on the floor. "I thought you were crazy. But you've proven to me today that you're completely off your rocker."

"You have no one to blame but yourself," Olette responded tepidly as she began brushing the water off the stage with an oversized broom. Behind her she heard Roxas scoff to himself. "You were asking for it."

"You don't say?" Roxas replied, keeping his tone calm as well. "And what horrible thing did I do to bring this misery and woe upon myself?"

Olette giggled briefly, but stopped herself when she realized what she was doing. She quickly replaced the smile on her face with a placid look. Roxas grinned momentarily to himself, pleased with her reaction.

"After embarrassing me, it was only a matter of time until I took my revenge out on you," she told him simply, pushing the water off the stage with her broom.

"Embarrassing you?" Roxas stopped picking things up long enough to send Olette a puzzled look. "When did I do that?"

Olette blinked back at him, her expression finally showing a sign of surprise. She swiftly looked away from Roxas and pretended to take an interest in her broom. "Never mind."

Roxas laughed loudly to himself suddenly, earning him Olette's undivided attention. Giving her a sideways glance, he inquired, "You're talking about the first time we had to clean up the stage by ourselves, aren't you?"

"No," Olette huffed as she looked away much too quickly.

"It's not my fault you got too into it, Gainsborough," Roxas teased aloofly as he went back to picking up arbitrarily placed objects.

"Shut up," Olette snapped, now brushing the water off stage with more force.

"Ooh, is Juliet throwing a tantrum?" Roxas snickered while looking up from where he was picking up a misplaced feathered hat.

"I said shut up," Olette sang, forcing a strained smile back at the blond. "You make for a terrible Romeo."

"This coming from the worst Juliet I've ever met?" Roxas retaliated with a taunting lopsided grin on his face.

"Don't push it," Olette warned, holding up her broom defensively. "I'm armed and I'm dangerous."

Roxas snickered to himself loudly, turning his back on the brunette once more. The two continued working, without so much as glancing back at each other, in an oddly comfortable silence. The gap between them was filled with the noise of Olette's broom brushing the water away and Roxas picking things up off the floor. The auditorium was thick with the smell of smoke, and the ceiling had a charred line running across it where the curtains used to hang. As for the curtains, they were completely destroyed and gone. Water was everywhere, practically flooding the entire auditorium in a gigantic puddle. But even then, cleaning the place up was better than getting expelled from school. Olette stood still for a moment, a sudden thought popping up curiously in her head.

"I take it you're not mad?" she figured as she slowly looked over her shoulder at Roxas.

The blond looked up from what he was doing to send the girl a curious side-glance. She stood with her back to him, still wearing the dress she had on for the play. Smirking to himself, Roxas let out a soft laugh and went back to what he had been previously doing.

"If anything," Roxas replied with a laugh distant in his voice, "I'm actually amused with what happened. Though, I could have done without you chasing me with the fake rapier." Upon adding this comment, he sent Olette a small smirk with more meaning behind it than she could decipher.

"Glad to hear it," Olette replied coolly, grinning to herself as well as she went back to sweeping the water off stage. Though she could have cared less if Roxas was mad at her, she was slightly relieved that at least one less person hated her that day. Because come Monday, the entire school was most likely going to be against her. Olette sighed heavily, her groaning earning her Roxas' attention.

"What?" he asked while hitching up an eyebrow.

"My dad's going to kill me when I get home," she complained while hanging her head.

"Really now?" Roxas snickered, going back to work. "Remind me to thank him after he's done."

Forcing the grin on her face, Olette twirled around and chucked the huge broom in Roxas' direction. He was unable to dodge out of the way in time, and the broom smacked him hard on the head. The blond stumbled back, grinning teasingly back at Olette, while rubbing his throbbing forehead where the broom hit him.

"Ow," Roxas laughed while Olette huffed and crossed her arms, pouting back at the boy.


	8. Happy Drunken Halloween

**A/N – Edited 10/31/08. Don't drink if you're underage. Not only is it bad for you, but it's also illegal. Roxas' costume is just his Organization XIII outfit. Have a safe and happy Halloween my lovelies!**

° ˚ • ◊ • ˚ °

**C** h **a** p **t** e **r** E **i** g **h** t

**Happy**Drunken**Halloween**

Olette went through many hellish weeks of constant torture, courtesy of Roxas. Apparently, it was his way of repaying her for burning down the auditorium and getting him in trouble for it. She couldn't help but wonder what he was complaining about. Xemnas had enough mercy to not expel either of them. So either Roxas was being serious about the whole "payback" thing, or old habits died hard. Most likely the latter. The only thing lifting Olette out of her pit of despair was the fact that October had finally rolled around. The girl loved everything about the month from its free candy to its color coordination. After all, orange was on her top five colors list. And if there was ever a month for orange, it was October. Besides that, it was also just the fact alone that Twilight Town got very much into the Halloween spirit. Shopkeepers decorated their homely stores with spider webs, orange pumpkins, and black cats. A few of the residents set out cauldrons and fake skeletons out in their front yards. Vampires and werewolves were _everywhere_. With the occasional witch, of course.

School was no different for Olette. Dusk High School always seemed to get in the spirit of whatever holiday, be it Christmas or Valentine's Day. Halloween was currently the high school's theme for more obvious reasons. People hadn't even handed out candy yet, and Olette could already smell the tempting scent of sweets in the air. The only downside to October was that Hayner took advantage of her easily frightened side and would jump out at her every so often while shouting "boo" at the top of his lungs, his face adorned with a hideous mask of sorts. Needless to say, Olette did not appreciate that. The Halloween decorations were still noticeable in the hallways as she headed to lunch as soon as the bell went off.

"But aren't we too old to trick-or-treat?" Olette asked Pence and Hayner once they caught up to her. The trio headed to lunch together, forcing their way through the mass of teenagers.

"Well, duh!" Hayner scoffed with a roll of his eyes. He was without a frightening mask for the moment, showing Olette some mercy. "I'm not talking about trick-or-treating. I'm talking about the Halloween parties!"

The three of them went through the doors and shoved past a few other students into the cafeteria. Just like out in the hallways, Halloween themed decorations were placed around in the cafeteria to remind students that it was in fact October. While Olette liked the idea of her school participating in some spirit, she thought they were overdoing it just a tad bit. She glanced away from a werewolf taped to the wall so as to look back up at Hayner like he was acting like his usual idiotic self. Olette found it sad that he would even think for a moment that _they_ were going to be fortunate enough to get invited to any Halloween parties of sorts.

"Hayner, I hate to break it to you but it's very likely we won't get invited to any," Pence sighed, taking the words right out of Olette's mouth. The three of them weren't exactly affiliated with the popular crowd of their high school. If anything, they were at the very bottom of the food chain. Maybe not that far below, but they certainly weren't at the top of the pyramid either. They quickly made a beeline for the line to retrieve their cafeteria food.

"Come on! I'll definitely get invited," Hayner gloated as he puffed out his chest for more emphasis. "I don't know about you two, though."

Upon commenting, Olette slapped him. The dirty blond stood in the food line, grumbling incoherent words under his breath and cradling his reddened cheek. When Olette wanted to, she could slap hard. Huffing, the brunette looked away from Hayner by raising her chin into the air and closing her eyes to pull off an arrogant demeanor.

"I'll probably just stay home and watch some scary movies on TV," Olette said irritatingly as she paid for her food. She pulled away from the long line with a tray of mysterious (and most likely not edible) cafeteria food. Her two friends trailed after her, holding trays of food of their own.

"Do you have no life?" Hayner asked rhetorically, using s snippy tone, as they finally found a table and sat themselves down.

"Hey! A lot of people do that on Halloween!" Olette defended as she shot Hayner a threatening glare. The girl glanced away from her annoying friend so as to scan her tray of food. It _seemed_ edible. She gave it a shot and plucked her hamburger off her tray, bringing it to her mouth. "Besides, my parents will be gone during Halloween. No doubt I'll be bored out of my mind without them."

She was being honest, too. Halloween just wasn't fun without Luxord and Aerith around. Luxord would do some silly, temporary tradition with both Olette and Zexion on Halloween. And Aerith would reveal her adorable (but skimpy) Halloween costume to the family. This would result in Luxord getting a nosebleed and Olette and Zexion being scarred for the rest of their lives. Though it didn't sound that much fun, Olette thought it was. Halloween with her family was amusing, that being the only way she could describe it.

Hayner and Pence looked up from their food and momentarily glanced at each other with blank looks in their eyes. The two boys glimpsed away from each other and looked back at Olette. She looked up from her hamburger when she felt their blank, almost lifeless, stares on her. Not only did it turn out her hamburger was indeed revolting and not worth eating, but the blank stares Hayner and Pence were giving her were starting to scare her.

"Your parents are going to be gone?" Hayner inquired, his tone of voice very suspicious to the brunette girl.

"Over Halloween?" Pence added while using the same tone as his taller friend.

The girl hitched up one eyebrow, curious and disturbed by the tones of voices the boys were using. "Yes. Why?" Olette questioned suspiciously, speaking slowly.

"Olette! It's the _perfect_ opportunity to throw a party!" Hayner exasperated as he threw his arms into the air above his head. This only resulted in him throwing his slice of pizza clear across the cafeteria, which landed on some poor soul's head.

Olette frowned instantly at his idea. While Hayner was the little party animal, she herself was much too responsible to take advantage of her parents' trust and throw a party without them knowing. "But they're only going to be gone for five or so days. There's no way I'm doing it," Olette informed them haughtily as she took a bite of her apple.

"Fine. If _you_ want to be a loser for the rest of your life," Hayner mocked. He knew from experience that there was no way of changing her mind. This didn't stop him from sticking his tongue out at her like a five year old throwing a fit. _This_ didn't stop Olette from throwing the apple she had been eating at his head. Much to Hayner's chagrin, she didn't miss.

° ˚ • ◊ • ˚ °

The next day, after the little discussion about throwing secret Halloween parties, Olette and Zexion found themselves standing in front of their house. Luxord and Aerith were seated inside their car, giving their children their last goodbyes. Olette's parents were leaving the town for a five-day trip because of Luxord's work. The two adults were packed and ready to leave, but Aerith had kept Luxord from driving away so as to tell Olette and Zexion goodbye for the umpteenth time. Frankly, Olette was starting to wish they would just go. It was getting chilly out, and she was stuck wearing a short-sleeved shirt outside. However, she wasn't going to head back inside until her parents drove away in a hurry. Which didn't seem to be happening anytime soon.

"Aerith, how come you have to go?" Zexion asked, stuffing his hands into the pockets of his jeans. Olette groaned inwardly, realizing this was going to take a lot longer than she had been hoping.

"Because your dad needs my help with his presentation," Aerith chimed with her head sticking out of the car window.

"Now, Olette, I don't want to come back and see you throwing some wild party," Luxord joked, winking.

Olette laughed nervously, not realizing that her dad was merely joking about the whole thing. "Ha ha. What makes you think I would do something like that?" By this point, her emerald colored eyes were shifting around wildly.

"Luxord, you know Olette is too responsible to do something like that," Aerith laughed lightly with a wave of her hand, completely dismissing her stepdaughter's unusual behavior.

"Of course I know that. I want you two to behave now, you hear? Olette, make sure Zexion stays out of trouble," her dad told her.

"Hey!" Zexion complained with a pout on his pale face. Olette grinned briefly, flattered that her father trusted her more than her younger brother.

"Be careful when you go trick-or-treating!" Aerith called from the car window as Luxord finally drove away, leaving their two children in a cloud of black smoke. Zexion and Olette waved unenthusiastically at the car until it disappeared around the corner, holding back the urge to cough out the smoke that had invaded their lungs.

"So." Zexion turned swiftly on his heels to his older sister with a mischievous and lopsided grin on his face. She blinked down at him in surprise. "Are you throwing a Halloween party or what?"

"You know I'm not," she responded with a frown. The brunette girl placed one hand on her hip and continued staring annoyingly down at her younger brother.

"That's too bad. I was hoping to see Yuffie," Zexion sighed nonchalantly with a flirtatious smile. He quickly wiggled his eyebrows upon saying so, revealing the true and rather disturbing meaning behind his words.

His older sister pointed back up at the porch suddenly with a blank, and yet vexed, look set on her sun kissed face. "Just get inside," Olette ordered through her teeth.

Grumbling, Zexion marched away while hanging his head. Olette's green eyes trailed after him, sighing loudly as she did so. It wasn't weird enough that her younger brother had a crush on her friend, but now he was making slightly lewd comments about it. Zexion's infatuation with Yuffie was that _last_ thing she needed to hear about. Though, she couldn't help but feel sorry for Zexion, considering Yuffie wanted nothing to do with her younger brother. However, Olette was less than surprised. Yuffie was a junior, and Zexion… well… Zexion wasn't. Her thoughts about Zexion's crush on Yuffie were interrupted when an all too familiar voice broke her train of thought.

"So, your parents are gone for the whole entire Halloween weekend?" Roxas called from the porch of his house.

Olette turned on her heels and faced the blond from her spot on the sidewalk. Roxas was sitting relaxed on his porch stairs, one elbow propped up on his knee. Unlike Olette, he had been smart enough to wear a hoody jacket outside in the freezing breeze. She was already shivering from the cold wind, desperately yearning for the warmth of the inside of her house. Even with it being cold outside, Roxas looked perfectly comfortable from his spot on his porch stairs. Still, Olette couldn't help but notice the mischievous glint in his eyes. What more, she couldn't help but wonder how long he had been watching the family from afar in silence. It struck her as weird, and slightly frightening. But then again, it was _Roxas_.

"Eavesdropper," Olette huffed while crossing her arms over her chest. She did this in hopes of warming up her arms. It didn't work out as well as she had been hoping. "Yes, they're gone. What's it to you?"

Roxas shrugged casually, looking away from the brunette girl as he did so. "Nothing, I guess." He flashed her a smirk before hurriedly heading inside.

Olette remained where she was in the middle of the sidewalk, the harsh breeze blowing roughly against her, as an uncomfortable feeling began settling in the pit of her stomach. The feeling of an approaching doom. She blinked confusedly at the spot where Roxas had been sitting, the churning feeling in her stomach becoming unbearable.

_What is that guy up to?_

° ˚ • ◊ • ˚ °

It was now Friday, and Olette was having one of her strangest days yet. Random people had gone up to her, saying something about being unable to wait for tomorrow. Olette either just ignored them, thinking they mistook her for someone else, or stood where she was while staring confusedly into the void. People hardly mistook her for someone else, considering her name was hardly known throughout her high school. Well, it _was_ unknown until she set the auditorium on fire. But even then, people only knew her as Pyromaniac Girl rather than her actual name. So it was no wonder why she was puzzled when people smiled excitedly at her while exclaiming about how tomorrow night was going to be fun. She knew that tomorrow was Halloween and all, but what did that have to do with her?

School was finally over after six long and excruciating hours. Olette was headed towards the doors, hoping to escape everyone that had gone up to her randomly, when Hayner and Pence caught up to her. She glanced curiously at the two boys when they approached her side, unable to miss the elated grins on both their faces.

"All right, Olette! I can't believe you actually did it!" Hayner rooted. The grin on his face grew in excitement. This only caused Olette to raise an eyebrow in utter confusion. This wasn't the first time it happened to her today, but she didn't expect the unusual behavior from her friends.

"Huh?" Olette tilted her head to one side, her brown tresses falling over her shoulder.

Hayner laughed goodheartedly, placing his hand on the girl's shoulder. "Aw, you know what I'm talking about!"

In reality, she really didn't.

"We'll see you tomorrow, Olette!" Pence called from over his shoulder with a wave as both the boys left Olette standing in confusion in the middle of the sidewalk. Pence's last statement only puzzled the girl more so, seeing as how Olette hadn't planned on meeting Hayner and Pence tomorrow. The only thing that finally snapped her out of her confused trance was when Roxas brushed past her, snickering mischievously to himself. The brunette blinked, frowned, then quickly stomped after Roxas when her confusion was replaced by sudden suspicion.

"Hey! What did you do?" Olette demanded sharply, her eyebrow hitched up.

Roxas cast a smirk from over his shoulder, thus instigating the familiar bad feeling in the pit of her stomach. "You'll see," he chuckled deviously before walking away.

"Nohart! Get back here and tell me!" Olette snapped as she hurried after him.

"Do you like parties, Gainsborough?" Roxas inquired in a sickly sweet tone, now walking backwards so as to face the brunette girl pursuing him.

"I guess. Why?" Olette gradually slowed down until she came to a complete stop, Roxas' smirk unnerving her.

"I told you," he snickered as he spun back around and turned his back on her. "You'll see." Roxas turned the corner, leaving Olette both confused and apprehensively worried.

° ˚ • ◊ • ˚ °

Halloween had finally arrived. As an act of celebration, Olette dressed herself up like a witch. On her head was a black tilted hat. She wore a comfortable black tank top with a matching black tattered skirt to go with it. A pair of black boots snaked their way up her legs and ended near her knees with black fish net leggings noticeable underneath. The brunette was currently sitting in the living room on her out-of-date couch, watching whatever cheesy horror movie was playing on the television. So far, no trick-or-treaters had shown up yet, so Olette was snacking away on the candy in the bowl she prepared for the children that were to show up on her doorstep begging for sweets. The girl looked away from the TV when Zexion ran down the stairs. There was a fake plastic knife sticking out of his head, red paint smeared all over the side of his head. Olette scrunched up her nose at the sight, both disturbed and disappointed by the lack of creativity. Zexion had a pillowcase ready in his hand.

"If you're not trick-or-treating, why are you dressed up?" he asked his older sister with an eyebrow raised in curiosity.

"Because I'm handing out candy," she answered huffily. "I might as well get in the spirit, right?"

"Whatever." Zexion only shrugged and dashed from the stairs to the front door. "See you later, Olette."

The ebony-haired boy opened the door, only to see Hayner and Pence were standing on the porch with a bundle of other people. Every single one of them was wearing a costume, though bags to accept candy in were absent. While the guests remained standing on the porch with moronic smiles, Zexion stood confused in the doorway. He had an eyebrow hitched up, and the corners of his mouth twitched in disturbance.

"Olette? Did you invite people over?" Zexion called from over his shoulder, using a cautious tone of voice as he spoke slowly. Olette glanced away from the TV for a second time. She peered over the couch to see what Zexion was talking about, only to have her green eyes land on the newcomers standing idly by on her porch. Surprised, she jumped off the couch and ran to her brother's side by the door.

"Hayner? Pence? What are you doing here?" Olette gasped. Her eyes trailed away from her two friends and landed on the group of people standing behind them. "Who are these people?" she whispered in a snippy tone as she pulled Hayner and Pence closer.

"We're here for your party. Duh," Hayner answered, grinning excitedly.

Olette looked alarmed to hear this and even recoiled back some. "Party? What party?"

"Your Halloween party," Pence responded, his brows knitted together in puzzlement.

"What are you talking about?" Olette demanded, her breathing growing shallow. Her voice had even gone slightly high pitched. It didn't help that it now felt like her brain was on the verge of imploding, what with her having no idea what was going on and all.

"You planned a party and you weren't going to tell me?" Zexion snapped as he looked away from the other people and glared up at his older sister. "Did you invite Yuffie?" Zexion's glare was gone, only to be replaced by a flirtatious smile.

Olette was about to tell everyone to get the hell off her porch when she saw Roxas run out of his house out of the peripheral of her vision. The blond cut across Olette's yard and hurried onto the porch. Shoving the others aside, Roxas approached the brunette girl while smiling wickedly. Olette instantly narrowed her eyes at him, not taking notice how he was also wearing a costume for Halloween. While Olette was busy glaring and Roxas was busy smirking, Zexion had decided to let the others in. Hayner and Pence gladly strutted inside as the other guests followed after them while mingling excitedly to each other.

"Am I too late? Did I miss it?" Roxas asked eagerly, his smirk growing in mischievousness.

"Miss what?" Olette demanded with a snippy voice.

"The arrival of the first group of guests," Roxas snickered. He had clearly enjoyed the look of appalled outrage that erupted onto Olette's face as she clenched her fists tightly together.

"What did you do?" she snarled slowly through tightly gritted teeth. Roxas grabbed her by the arm and dragged her back inside the house into the main hallway. While the two of them remained out in the hallway, the guests were already making themselves comfortable out in the kitchen and living room.

"I invited some people over to your house for a Halloween party," he explained, Olette being unable to ignore the impish sarcasm in his voice. "Hope you don't mind." Roxas flashed a smirk at her, making it clear that he really didn't care what Olette thought about his entire plan.

"YOU DID WHAT?" Olette screamed as her face flushed red from fury. Unbeknownst to his sister's fury, Zexion momentarily left the guests in the living room and approached Olette's side.

"On second thought, I think I'll stay. A party's not a party without me after all," Zexion said with a cheeky smile playing on his lips. Ignoring the irritated look on Olette's face, he returned to the living room to mingle.

"See? Why can't you be as cool as your brother?" Roxas joked while elbowing the brunette in the ribs suddenly. Olette's face burned vibrant red with anger as she shot the blond boy a threatening glare.

"Why did it have to be at my house? Why not yours?" Olette snarled through clenched teeth, desperately trying to stay calm.

"Because, my mom won't be gone for the weekend," he answered aloofly. Roxas shrugged his shoulders, which only annoyed Olette more so. While he was acting so calmly about the whole thing, it was her house in the end that was going to get trashed. No wonder _he_ had no problem with it.

"That's not an excuse!" Olette snapped with a dangerous snarl in her voice. Rather than intimidating or even frightening Roxas, he merely smirked in amusement. Needless to say, this wasn't the reaction Olette had been hoping for. "I don't even have any refreshments or food for these people!"

"Not to worry! Everyone will bring their own drinks. And if they get hungry they can just eat the candy you have lying around," Roxas said, smirking arrogantly.

While it seemed Roxas had the answer to all her problems, Olette was anything but happy with his responses. The glower etched deeply into her face said it all.

"You better wipe that smile off your face before I do it myself! Now go out there and tell all those people they can't stay! And what the hell are you even supposed to be? A cult member or something?" Olette ridiculed as she scrutinized Roxas' costume.

The boy was wearing a black cloak zipped up most of the way. His hooded robe fell down to the floor around his legs. The cloak itself was an ornate piece of clothing, and looked to be made out of leather. Roxas wore black pants and black boots to match. His hands were currently gloved, also black. In fact, much like Olette's, his entire costume consisted of black. He was currently not wearing the hood up.

"Not a cult member, Gainsborough. A cult _leader_," he joked with a snicker.

"Stop joking around already! Tell these people to leave!" Olette ordered as she stomped her foot.

The two of them had only been talking with each other for a few minutes, and already music was blaring loudly from the living room. The guests certainly didn't take any time to make themselves at home. Before Olette had a chance to yell some more at Roxas, the doorbell rang over the noise of the music. Roxas ran over to the door, pushing Olette aside as he did, and yanked it open. Another bundle of people waltzed right in, brushing past a stunned Olette. Among these new partygoers were Kairi, Selphie, and Yuffie. The three costumed girls bounced up to Olette, all three of them wearing excited grins on their faces.

"I can't believe you're actually throwing a party! That's so cool of you, Olette!" Kairi exclaimed. She had dressed herself up like a female version of a pirate for Halloween.

"Seriously! I thought you were going to do something lame like hand out candy to little kids while watching scary movies on TV," Selphie interjected with a light laugh as she casually waved her hand in front of her face. The chestnut-haired girl was dressed up like a French maid. The only thing missing from her costume was a feathery duster.

Olette gave a strained laugh, her eyes shifting quickly away from her three friends. "Yeah… I was _so_ not going to do that…"

"Oh, yeah! We brought some soda like the invitation requested," Yuffie said loudly over the noise of the other guests partying. The junior girl had dressed up in a ninja costume, with fake throwing stars and everything. She shoved a six-pack into Olette's hands. The brunette yelped while momentarily fumbling with the six-pack in her hands.

"Why did you have Roxas hand out the invitations?" Kairi asked as she tilted her head. Instantly, Olette scowled at the mention of his name.

"…Because. Excuse me, please," Olette hissed when the doorbell rang again.

Grumbling incoherent words under her breath, she shoved past her three friends surrounding her and trudged over to the front door. She opened the door, only to see a dozen or so more people standing on the porch. As soon as she opened the door, they pushed straight past her and forced their way into the house. Olette stood in her doorway completely dumbfounded as she blinked in surprise. Had it been just a few people that were invited and not an entire audience, then Olette would have been fine with it. However, considering it was much more people than she had been hoping Olette was not fine at all. Actually, she was incredibly pissed off by the events taking place.

"Roxas!" Olette snarled with a dark leer.

The brunette slammed the door shut with a loud bang. No one in any of the other rooms would have heard it because of the immensely loud music blaring. She marched into the living room while tossing the six-pack of soda aside into a group of unfortunate teens, making sure she was wearing her most vexed look yet. The living room of her house was stuffed to the brim with people, chatting with each other while bearing with the loud music. After looking around, Olette finally found Roxas mingling flirtatiously with some girls at the back of the room. The brunette stomped over to him while growling to herself. She caught Roxas by surprise as she grabbed him by the collar of his costume and dragged him out into the hall, leaving behind a group of disappointed girls. Roxas stumbled forward when Olette shoved him, and he turned to face her with a baffled look by swiftly spinning on his feet.

"Invited _some_ people?" Olette seethed, not afraid to get in his face. "You liar! What did you do? Invite the whole freakin' school?"

An anxious smile appeared suddenly on Roxas' face as he held his hands out in front of him defensively. "I wouldn't say the whole school. But, yeah, pretty close," he tittered. Olette's once sun kissed face paled, completely drained of color.

"WHAT?" she screeched so loudly that everyone in the others room could hear her, even over the loud blaring of the music. Roxas jumped back at her sudden eruption, the nervousness evident on his face.

"Hey, look at it this way. Now you're popular," he laughed anxiously in an attempt to calm her down.

The doorbell rang again from behind the two teens, but Olette ignored it.

"Nohart, these people are going to destroy my house!" she panicked angrily. "My parents are going to kill me!"

"Your parents aren't going to do anything," Roxas snickered as he reverted back to his irritating self. "They're out of town, so they'll never know. They aren't going to kill you!"

"They might not kill me, but _I'm_ going to kill _you_!" Olette snarled, ready to strangle him. Roxas held his hands between him and the maddened girl as a pathetic barrier of protection. Olette never got the chance to lunge at the blond and throttle him because the doorbell rang three more times. "I'll be right back," she hissed as she quickly turned her back on him. The girl ran up to the door and wrenched it open, yelling, "What?"

"Hiya, Olette!" Sora greeted happily, his voice chiming. Standing beside him was Riku, who waved casually at Olette. The sky outside behind the two boys, she noticed, was now pitch black and little children were already out trick-or-treating. "Glad to see you're throwing a Halloween party!"

Olette groaned inwardly, but didn't have the heart to order them away when there was obviously a party going on behind her. Roxas took this opportunity to slip away, melting back into the party and away from the brunette's wrath. Sora bounced through the doorway, stopping on the other side of Olette with an excited grin stretching across his face. Olette quickly scanned him and finally noticed that the brunet had decided to dress up as a pirate for that Halloween.

"Is Kairi here yet?" Sora inquired. "We both decided to dress up as pirates together for this Halloween, and I want to see what she looks like!"

Sighing, Olette pointed a limp finger in the direction of her more than crowded living room. "Try the living room. She's bound to be in there somewhere."

Grinning, Sora hurried off into the living room and disappeared into the crowd of partiers. Olette rubbed her forehead tiredly, fully aware that there was no going back now. She was stuck hosting the party until everyone got fed up with it and left. Riku leisurely approached Olette's side, his eyes trailing after Sora as the thorny-haired brunet continued in his excited search for Kairi. Olette blinked up at Riku when she noticed his presence, instantly realizing he wasn't wearing any sort of costume. The silver-haired boy was dressed in his casual street clothes, his hands stuffed into the pockets of his jeans.

"And what are you supposed to be?" Olette questioned rhetorically while arching up an eyebrow, fully aware that there wasn't an answer.

Riku glanced down at her with a playful grin. "I'm sexy for Halloween."

"Of course," she sighed, unable to control herself from shaking her head.

Chuckling quietly to himself, Riku made his way into the living room. Olette lightly pushed the door to close it, now groaning loudly to herself. Just as the door was about to shut itself close, a hand shot out and caught it in time. She glanced back curiously at the door and pulled it open. Standing by the doorway were some seniors Olette had never personally met before. The only reason she knew them was because they were on the football team. One of the football players stood on the other side of the door, one hand still holding the door open while his other was firmly gripping the doorframe. The seniors didn't even wait for Olette to invite them in as they shoved past her and forced their way into the house. She stood back and watched with widened green eyes.

"Here, we brought the drinks," one of the seniors said roughly as he held up a small cooler in front of Olette's face. She glanced inside it out of curiosity, absolutely certain that they had also brought soda with them like everyone else. So imagine her surprise when she looked into the cooler and saw it was filled with nothing but beer.

"You can't bring that in here!" Olette gasped. She looked away from the cooler and glanced back up at all the seniors, her emerald colored eyes doubled in size. "We aren't old enough to drink that stuff!"

The group of seniors broke out into uncontrollable laughter, each and every one of them chortling stridently. Olette watched as the football players continued guffawing, having to lean on each other for support from laughing so hard.

"She's funny!" one senior chortled as they brushed aside Olette's worry and went into the living room to join the party.

Olette couldn't believe what was happening, taking place in her very own home. Because the seniors had left the door open behind them, this allowed more students who had shown up at that moment to come on in without waiting for Olette to let them inside. They brushed past the bewildered brunette, shoving her almost to the floor in the process. A sea of teenagers hurried past her and went off to somewhere in the house so as to party the Halloween night away. Olette glanced up, gasping with shock. They had run out of room in the house by this point. The house had overflowed so much, a majority of the teens were forced to party out in the backyard where it was cold. Fed up with everything, Olette charged forward into the thick throng of teens in her living room.

The very sight alone appalled her. The room was completely stuffed with costumed teenagers. There was dancing, eating, and talking. Yet, no one was respecting her house. She could already spot crushed cans all over the carpeted floor, along with soda stains and most likely beer stains. Damn seniors. Because of the lack of room, people were bumping into things and knocking knickknacks over like vases and picture frames. The dancing the teens were doing was enough to cause Olette's eyes to bleed. There was no way she could classify the dancing as G rated. _No way._ Off in the corner of the living room, a few boys were having a chugging contest. Most of the soda (maybe it was beer) ended up on the floor instead of in their mouth. And there was no way for Olette to miss the multiple couples making out on the couch _she watched TV on_.

_Note to self, _she grumbled inwardly as she tried to block the music out of her head. _Burn the couch._

She finally spotted Roxas in the kitchen, leaning against the island and chatting away happily with Riku, Sora, and Kairi. An opened can of soda was present in his hand, and he laughed at something Riku said.

"Sexy. That's a good one," Roxas chuckled as he took a sip from his soda. "I'll have to use that one next year."

His smile quickly fell when he saw Olette approaching him with a frown of her own.

"This party has to end! Now!" she shouted at him, trying to raise the volume of her voice above the volume of the music. The girl was suffering from a headache by now, the excruciatingly loud music getting to her. It was a miracle none of her neighbors had complained yet. Even with her yelling, her voice was barely audible over the music.

"What's wrong now?" Roxas exasperated, turning momentarily away from the three he was talking to.

"A bunch of seniors brought beer! Beer!" Olette emphasized her obvious panic with hand gestures. "If the cops come and find the beer, I can get into major trouble!"

"Relax!" Roxas laughed like it was a silly thing to worry about. She could barely hear him over the loud talking, laughing, and music. "You have nothing to worry about!" Without so much as another word, Roxas turned back to Sora, Kairi, and Riku to resume their conversation.

Olette could feel her brain on the verge of imploding, but left him anyway. She knew better than anyone how difficult Roxas was to talk to. Or convince otherwise. She couldn't help but feel immense antipathy towards him, jealous of his carefree lack of anxiety. He wouldn't have felt that way if it had been _his_ house. Mad at Roxas and the world in general, Olette trudged past Zexion as he tried his best to hit on Yuffie. Not much to Olette's surprise, Yuffie looked absolutely disgusted.

"What are you for Halloween, Yuffie?" Zexion purred, propping his arm up on the wall with a soda in his hand as he flashed her his most alluring smile.

"A ninja," Yuffie answered, her tone of voice reluctant.

Zexion nodded his head slowly while keeping the grin on his face. "Ninjas are hot," he said casually, causing Yuffie to inch away a bit.

Olette allowed herself to laugh at the whole entire scene in her head, in desperate need of something to lift her mood. Urging to get as far away from Roxas as possible, she ambled out into the foyer where she caught several different couples making out.

"Okay, okay! Cut that out! Get yourselves a room!" Olette snapped as she tore apart a couple that were ferociously at it. After sending her some dark glares, the couples actually ascended upstairs to go find themselves a room. "I didn't mean that literally! And you better not use _my_ room!"

"Hey, Olette. What's up?" Olette heard a voice slur from close behind her. Gasping, she quickly spun around on her heels. She yelped and jumped back when she almost collided into a taller figure. Seifer was staring down at her, wearing an odd looking smile on his face. Olette hadn't even heard him sneak up on her, most likely due to the loud music and her being distracted with all the PDA that was taking place in her hallway. The brunette didn't even take the time to study his outfit; she was much too busy frowning up at the unwanted guest.

"Seifer? Oh, great. I can't believe you got invited," Olette sighed irritatingly, shaking her head and bringing her hand to her forehead once more. The girl gasped when Seifer suddenly reached out and grabbed her arm roughly.

"You're looking good tonight," he said as he drew her closer. As much as Olette tried to struggle against the grasp Seifer had on her, it was almost next to impossible for her to escape. She instantly picked up the scent of alcohol when his breath hit her right in the face.

"Are you drunk?" Olette asked with a snippy tone in her voice. The hold he had on her was starting to become annoyingly uncomfortable. She had dealt with him like this before, but never this aggressive.

"Not really!" Seifer laughed loudly, almost putting the volume of the music blaring around them to shame. He teetered side to side, unable to regain control of his impaired balance. The scent of alcohol in his breath was too strong to deny otherwise. Olette scowled instantaneously, disappointed that Seifer would fall victim to the appeal of beer.

_Oh, he is _so_ drunk!_

"Hey, Olette, how's 'bout you and me go somewhere private to have a little fun?" Seifer snickered as he grabbed onto the brunette girl's other arm tightly. This time, she had actually winced under the pressure of the grip he had on her arm.

"No! Let go of me, Seifer!" Olette shouted demandingly as she tried to shove the junior boy away. She was rendered powerless when Seifer pinned her against the wall unexpectedly, almost knocking the wind out of her. Unfortunately for the green-eyed girl, the hall became completely deserted upon Seifer's arrival, meaning no one was around to help her out now.

"Oh, come on. You know you want to," Seifer chuckled suggestively into her ear.

Olette tried to fight against him as Seifer trailed away from her ear and down her neck, nipping at her skin. The sad truth was he was stronger than her, making it extremely difficult for Olette to fight back. Seifer's hands coiled tightly around Olette's upper arms, and he made it impossible for her to slip away and escape to safety by pinning her down to the wall with his own larger figure. As much as she squirmed, Seifer was left unfazed as his lips continued grazing her neck. Screaming for help had crossed her mind, but she doubted anyone would have heard her. So, instead, she squeezed her eyes shut and prayed frantically for any sort of help.

"No!" Olette screamed as she tried to wriggle out of Seifer's grasp.

Then, miraculously enough, Seifer was suddenly knocked down to the floor. When she regained breath in her lungs and feeling in her arms, Olette slowly and bewilderedly fluttered her eyes open. Roxas stood in front of her as he loomed over a dazed Seifer, the look of hostility vivid in his sapphire eyes. The brunette girl still leaning against the wall quickly came to the conclusion that it had been Roxas who punched Seifer, thus sending the junior boy to the tiled floor of the hallway. Olette was left mortified, grateful, and just plain pissed off! Mortified because never before had she been in a situation like the one she had just gone through with Seifer; grateful because Roxas came in just the knick of time to save her; and pissed because Seifer had forced himself on her _and_ Roxas saved her. Again. Olette was starting to feel like a clichéd damsel in distress.

"You heard the girl! She doesn't want to!" Roxas shouted harshly, anger unmistakable in both his expression and tone of voice.

Seifer staggered up to his feet as he teetered here and there. He still looked disorientated, the look on his face both alarmed and annoyed. "Come on, man. I was just trying to have some fun," Seifer argued, surprisingly not stumbling drunkenly over his words. When he took a wobbly step towards Olette, Roxas quickly stepped out in front of her with his arms held out in an attempt to blockade the brunette from Seifer.

"Get out of here!" Roxas demanded as his voice grew louder and his words grew sharper.

"Whatever!" Seifer scoffed while swiftly turning away from the two. Without so much as another slurred word, he tottered out the front door and into the night.

Olette remained where she was up against the wall, her hands held tightly to her chest in an attempt to get the beating of her heart to return to normal. Her widened eyes remained glued to the front door, unable to push Seifer out of her mind. The boy had never really bothered her before, but tonight he terrified her. And then along comes Roxas. Speaking of which, Roxas looked away from the door and turned to face Olette. The brunette girl's green eyes flickered away from the door and landed on the blond in front of her. She instantly locked eyes with Roxas, sapphire meeting emerald. For what had to be the first time ever, Roxas actually looked genuinely worried about Olette. Maybe even a bit scared about what had happened to her. Much to her surprise, he reached out and gingerly placed his hand on her shoulder, giving it a concerned squeeze. She flinched involuntarily at the action but quickly regained her imperfect composure.

"Are you all right?" Roxas asked softly, his brows furrowed together in aggravated worry.

Olette's face tinted pink for reasons she would have rather not thought about. Her rapidly beating heart actually skipped a beat upon glancing up at the expression on Roxas' face. There was something about his temporary chivalry that was charming, even in a situation such as that one. Actually, just looking up at the blond caused Olette to become suddenly lightheaded. She also found it difficult to breathe, her breath stopping short in her throat. Even then, she couldn't ignore her other, more distraught emotions. The feeling of wanting to cry swelled up inside her as a painful lump formed in the back of her throat. The girl could feel the salty tears pricking at her viridian eyes, but she tried her best to control herself. Mix together the emotions of temporary infatuation and aggravation, and you end up with one easily upset teenager. Instead of becoming weepy, Olette quickly became frustrated and infuriated in one emotion. Giving in to her pent up anger and distress, she gave Roxas a good shove and sent him toppling backwards to the floor.

"This is all your fault!" she cried as she hovered over the bewildered boy, her eyes watering up more so now.

She ignored the look of alarm that flashed across Roxas' pale face and swiftly spun on her heels. Olette ran blindly into the living room and shoved her way through the humungous swarm of people, leaving Roxas confused and alone in the hallway by himself. Every time she swallowed, it only aggravated the lump in her throat and caused her discomfort. After forcing her way angrily through the crowd of teens, she came to an abrupt halt next to the table with all the drinks and food on it. Olette tried to control her urge to hiccup tearfully as she leaned against the table to rest, if only for a moment. Her teary eyes scanned the living room as everyone danced to the loud music. There was no way in hell her dad would have ever allowed her to throw a party like the one right at that moment. Maybe Aerith, but not Luxord.

_What was that feeling back there with Nohart?_

She sighed and decided to ignore it, hanging her head as the end result. Granted, it wasn't the first time. But this time was certainly much different from before, considering how Roxas had behaved. Tonight just wasn't Olette's night. The girl wanted nothing more than to be alone, which was a funny thing to wish for at an overcrowded party. However, the poor girl wasn't getting her wish granted anytime soon. Rather than getting a moment to herself, Olette was suddenly ambushed and surrounded by the oversized senior football players that secretly brought beer to her party. They all leaned against the table with her as she glanced up curiously at them with tears glistening in her eyes.

"Why the long face?" the first senior guffawed merrily while slapping Olette hard on the back. She grunted and stumbled forward slightly, wincing at the force the football player had used without knowing.

"It's a party," another senior said from beside Olette, earning him her attention now. "You should be having fun, not moping!"

Olette cast her eyes down to her feet, a noticeable frustrated pout on her face. "I just want to be alone. I'm not in the mood to party."

"Aww! All you need is a drink!" the senior who had slapped her back chortled, now throwing his brawny arm around her shoulders. Olette yelped quietly at the sudden action, unaware that football players could be so friendly. It was either that or they were drunk. Most likely the latter. Before she had a chance to protest, the senior on her other side opened a canned beverage and shoved it in her face. He forced the can to Olette's mouth and the chilled drink slithered down her throat as she began to involuntarily guzzle it down. "Bottoms up!"

Olette tried to object through the can, a bit of the beverage spilling down her face as she did so. However, the seniors couldn't understand her odd hand gestures and just continued laughing goodheartedly and forcing the brunette to drink the beverage against her own free will. She couldn't ignore the warm feeling that began to sink into her stomach, causing her head to turn pleasantly light. Olette hiccupped as she chugged down the last bit of the drink. The football player pulled the can away from her face and tossed it aside after crushing it in his hand. The other seniors all stared down blankly at Olette, who was blinking expressionlessly into the void. Her face had flushed a light pink color, glowing faintly in her cheeks. Hiccupping again, she glanced up at the senior who forced the drink down her throat and requested, "Hand me another one of those," still unsure as to what that drink had been.

Obviously, it was beer.

Grinning, the senior plucked another can of beer off the table from behind them and handed it to Olette. She snatched it from him, pulled the tab to open it, and began drinking greedily from the can. The beverage itself was disgusting, revolting to Olette's taste buds. And, yet, it was enticingly addictive. Laughing in good manner, like they had all been friends for a long while, the seniors grabbed their own cans of beer and began drinking away with Olette. It didn't take long for the beer's effect to get to Olette. Considering she had a few five or so cans, it was no wonder she was now drunk off her ass. It probably didn't help that she was a lightweight either.

The brunette sophomore sat on the couch in her living room with her new senior buddies sitting with her, all of them with a can of beer in their hands. Olette swayed from side to side with an odd grin on her face as she swiped another sip from her own can. Because of her intoxication, Olette allowed herself to divulge her problems to the seniors. Because they were also slightly drunk (though, not as drunk as the poor brunette) they listened loyally about her boy troubles. Thankfully for Olette, Roxas was nowhere around to hear her talk very loudly about him.

"The guy's a real jerk, okay?" Olette snapped with a tipsy frown on her face, wagging her finger drunkenly around in the air. "But he's got, like, this not-jerk side, you know?" The seniors nodded as she took a sip from her can.

"Whaddya mean?" the senior on the other end of the couch asked, leaning in like he was actually interested about what they were talking about.

Hiccupping, Olette directed her hazy eyes to him and informed, "Diddya know the guy cut off all my hair once? All of my hair!"

The seniors gasped dramatically, the beer obviously taking its effect on them. Olette waved her hand casually at them like it wasn't that big of a deal and took another gulp of her beer.

"But even though he's, like, this complete asshole, he's still nice. To some degree," she said, her words heavily slurred. How the seniors could understand a word she was saying, no one would know.

"How so?" the senior closest to her sighed dreamily, like a girl gossiping at a slumber party.

"After his mommy destroyed my essay for a class," Olette garbled while teetering from side to side and talking with choppy hand movements, "he rewrote the entire essay. And made a visual for it, too!"

"How dreamy," the seniors breathed simultaneously.

"He's still an ass," Olette grumbled while drinking away at her beer at the same time. She inhaled deeply after finishing up her drink, looking back up at the drunken football players. "He's mean, rude, egotistical, and makes my life a living hell. I want to punch a hole through his head." She flashed the seniors a bright and goofy grin as she leaned back on the couch, suppressing a hiccup. "But sometimes I don't feel that way at all. I absolutely hate the guy, but when I'm around him sometimes I get this uncomfortable and fluttery feeling in the pit of my stomach. Especially when he's shirtless."

The seniors oohed as if fascinated by what Olette was revealing to them. Waving her hand at the senior closest to her, he handed her yet another can of beer. At this rate, she was going to become an alcoholic at the age of fifteen.

"Not only that, but my face always heats up when he does something out of the norm, like act nice to me!" she admitted, her can hissing when she opened it up. "And my heart always does this weird somersault thing. And then I can't breathe all of a sudden. It's so weird since I know I hate him and all I should feel towards him is pure hatred, not this heart-somersaulting, hard-to-breathe, blushing-face, fluttery-stomach feeling!"

Now she was just rambling. Or maybe it was the beer talking. Either way, the seniors listened intently and nodded their heads every time Olette looked at them when she spoke. One of the seniors in the middle of the couch leaned back while tapping his finger against his chin, deep in thought. He looked away from the ceiling and glimpsed back at the drunken girl, his eyebrow hitched up in speculation.

"Sounds to me like you're in love with this guy," he said with a shrug of his shoulders.

The couch suddenly grew quiet, despite the loud noise taking place around them. The other football players looked back and forth unknowingly between that one senior and Olette. She blinked blankly at the senior, her face void of any emotion. Just as the situation was growing awkward, Olette let out a hardy laugh, throwing back her head and slapping her thigh as she did so. The seniors on the couch whipped their heads around and stared curiously back at the cackling girl. She wiped a tear out of her eye when her laughing died down to stifled giggles.

"Oh, I'm not in love with the guy," Olette giggled. "I hate him!"

"Maybe you just think you hate him," another one of the football players suggested, tilting his head. "But in reality you're actually madly in love with him."

"Oh, you guys are crazy!" Olette huffed lightly with a pout. She sprang off the couch, landing unbalanced on her feet. The girl turned back towards the seniors on the couch with a lopsided smile. "I don't love Roxas," she giggled girlishly with a wave of her hand.

Turning on her heels again, she drunkenly ambled away from the couch and out into the throng of teenagers. Olette stumbled her way over to the table where she began talking with the seniors, suddenly in the mood for potato chips. She never made it to the snack table, because it was just then that she came to a halt. Hiccupping, Olette rolled her eyes to the ceiling as she lost herself in curious thought. What the seniors said was starting to get to her, poking incessantly at the back of her slightly impaired mind. Maybe they had a point? Then again, she was too drunk to tell on her own. Instead, Olette giggled and waved the thought away.

"I don't love Roxas," she said out loud in an attempt to convince herself. The argument didn't process all the way through in her mind, though, because then she began wondering if that wasn't the case. "Then again… he is cute!" She giggled again, no one noticing her strange behavior fortunately enough for her. "Maybe I do love Roxas? Yeah, I think I love Roxas!"

"Finally! We found you, Olette!" Hayner's voice suddenly interrupted her drunken epiphany from behind. She quickly turned to face both Hayner and Pence. "We've been looking for you forever!"

The two boys quickly noticed Olette's flushed face, along with her unbalanced walking. She flashed the two a rather weird grin, causing them to hitch up eyebrows in suspicion.

"Oh, hey, guys. Enjoying the party? I know I am," Olette giggled absentmindedly as she almost lost her footing.

"Olette, did you have beer?" Pence gasped when the scent of alcohol hit him straight in the face as soon as she spoke up.

"Whoa!" Hayner exclaimed with shock erupting onto his face. "Are you actually drunk, Olette?"

"What? No!" she laughed stridently, waving her hand slowly as an attempt to deny their accusations. "I swear to drunk, I'm not God!"

There was an awkward and uncomfortable moment of silence exchanged between the trio.

"You certainly seem drunk!" Hayner scolded with an upset frown. He might have been the little party animal himself, but even Hayner had enough responsibility to refuse to drink beer.

Olette giggled as her hand shot to her mouth. All the boys could do was watch in disturbance as their friend giggled in an almost maniacal manner.

"I'm not drunk, you silly! I'm just in love!" Olette laughed lightly while placing her hand on Hayner's shoulder and supporting her weight on him. She widened her toothy smile, her face turning a brighter shade of pink because of the alcohol she had consumed. "With Roxas, that is!" With that said, she stumbled away from the two utterly confused boys and disappeared into the crowd while giggling drunkenly to herself.

"Oh man, she _is_ drunk," Pence gasped once he realized that Olette would have never said that in the right state of mind. The two watched for any sign of the drunken girl in the thick crowd, still being able to hear her odd giggling even over the noise of the music and the other teens. The chubby boy turned to Hayner. "Should we do something?"

"You mean like videotape her antics and then upload it to youtube?" Hayner answered excitedly, grabbing a can of soda as soon as he did so.

Olette finally staggered her way out of the living room and found herself out in the hallway again. At least the couples that had been making out didn't return. Too drunk to care, Olette teetered on towards the den in search of a certain blond. One of the upsides of being drunk was that it made you overly confident. Or maybe that was a downside. Whichever one it was, Olette suddenly found herself confident enough to waltz right up to Roxas and drunkenly reveal to him she was in love with him. At least that's what she thought when she was completely intoxicated. Somewhere in the depth of her mind, the sober Olette was trying to stop the drunk Olette from doing anything stupid. Needless to say, the sober Olette wasn't winning.

She leaned against the archway of the den so as to regain her impaired balance. There were several people lounging around in the den, either talking to others or watching a scary movie on the TV while sitting on the comfortable couch. Sitting on that very couch was none other than Roxas, laughing with another costumed person. Had she been sober, Olette would have wondered why he had so many friends if he was nothing more than a jerk. However, since she was in fact not sober she staggered over towards him instead. Roxas looked away from the person he was talking with when he noticed Olette approached the couch. The person he was conversing with said goodbye to the blond and left, leaving the couch alone for Roxas and the drunken brunette. He failed to notice Olette's intoxicated demeanor, as she also failed to notice the look of hurt flash momentarily onto Roxas' face.

"What is it now?" he groaned irritatingly with a frown. Olette grinned, giggling as she did so, and leaned forward on the armrest of the couch. Roxas leaned back slightly when she came too close to his face, supporting a portion of his weight on his arms now. "Uh… Gainsborough? You feeling alright?"

Olette completely lost her footing. She tripped forward and collapsed onto the couch, landing somewhat on Roxas' lap. Despite the rather annoying giggling coming from Olette, the blond's irritated expression was quickly replaced with a look of concern.

"What's wrong, Gainsborough?" Roxas asked with genuine worry in his voice. He pulled Olette up all the way onto the couch. After rearranging her position, Roxas had finally gotten the brunette to sit upright on the couch. Though, she was still leaned against him for support, giggling every so often softly to herself.

Olette laughed lightly, the noise ringing in Roxas' ears, as she turned her head slightly to cast another lopsided grin at him. "Guess what, Roxas? I've got something to tell you," she slurred as she placed her hand on his shoulder, the smile growing on her face.

"Are you… are you drunk?" Roxas inquired with a gasp laced into his sentence. What tipped him off was Olette actually calling him by his first name. It would have made sense, too, considering she had yelled at him earlier about some seniors bringing beer to the party. Olette blinked up at him for a moment, the rheum of alcohol clearly visible in her emerald shaded eyes, but then quickly reverted back to her peculiar grin. "Gainsborough, you need to—" Roxas was interrupted when Olette placed a finger over his lips, rendering him silent as a faint patch of red appeared suddenly across his face. He stared wide-eyed down at Olette as her drunken smile turned oddly charming.

"I was trying to tell you something," Olette whispered with a giggle. Her finger trailed slowly away from his lips and down his neck, the very action of it causing the patch of red on Roxas' face to turn a darker shade. As she traced her finger in a line down his chest, she scooted closer towards him so as to lean in and whisper flirtatiously in his face, "I think I might be in love with you."

Roxas' face was now a dark crimson color, her alcohol-scented breath tingling against his cheek. If anything, he figured it was most likely just the beer talking. "You don't know what you're saying. You just need to lie down and rest," he insisted, trying to keep his cracking voice steady. The situation didn't grow any better when Olette merely giggled and began attempting to crawl her way on top of Roxas.

"Olette! What the hell are you doing?" Roxas choked, his face now burning bright red. He didn't care if he hadn't used her last name; now wasn't the time to care. Any moment now, his face was going to catch on fire from his intense blush.

Roxas tried to shove the girl away, inching backwards on the couch quickly after doing so. Giggling, Olette only crawled after him and cornered him on the other side of the couch. Roxas was now stuck between the armrest and the intoxicated brunette. She pinned him down after pouncing on top of him, forcing him down on the couch against his will. Olette leaned in dangerously close to Roxas' face, making it easy for him to make out the fine details of her alluring and yet drunken smile.

"Trying to tell you I love you, duh!" Olette giggled as she combed her fingers through his blond spikes.

"Come on, Olette. Get off," Roxas ordered as he tried to push the girl off. It was pointless; he was trapped and there was no way of getting out. "Quit joking around."

"But I'm not joking," she whispered into his ear in a sultry voice while trialing her finger up and down the side of his neck. "I really am in love with you. You feel the same way about me, don't you?"

She didn't wait for him to answer, but instead slowly tilted her head in and placed her lips hotly on the crook of his neck. Roxas instantaneously tensed up, completely startled and frozen from shock. Inside his skull, his brain shut down and quit functioning all together. His face heated up more so from overwhelming alarm and perhaps lustful delight. Not that he would ever admit it out loud. As Olette's lips continued moving passionately down his neck, Roxas regained a minimal amount of his senses and tried to pry the girl off him. Regardless, she kept her firm hold on him and prevented the blond from getting away.

"Olette… stop…" Roxas moaned, only causing her to giggle for some reason and run her hand through his hair. It didn't help the boy's hormones when she starting biting him lightly.

Chuckling quietly to herself, Olette's lips grazed back up to Roxas' ear and she purred, "But I thought you loved me."

"Well… I…" Roxas' voice trailed off into the distance when the drunken girl went back to biting his neck eagerly. Not only was his face ready to catch fire and his brain on the verge of exploding inside his head, but if this kept up he was going to die from an instantaneous heart attack.

With his face burning bright red, Roxas tried to force himself to somehow get Olette off him. He found this extremely difficult with her necking him and all. The boy would be less than surprised if he was left with a hickey, which Olette had probably left him with by now. She suddenly pulled away from his neck and brought her lips that were turned up in a small smile close to his own, leaning in little by little. Roxas' blue eyes doubled in size and he desperately tried to get her to stop what she was doing.

"Olette, wait!" Roxas gasped, using his hands to hold the intoxicated girl back for as long as possible. "Cut it out already!" This only earned him a giggle from Olette. Why was no one helping out the poor boy?

Their little moment was interrupted when a peculiar light suddenly seeped through the window. Everything got eerily quiet, along with the chatter of teens and the blaring of music. Everyone had stopped what they were doing when they all noticed the light illuminating through the window. All eyes were on that one window, everyone holding their breath apprehensively. The sound of a car pulling in could be heard outside in the front yard. Olette's parents were home early.

"SCATTER!" some random person yelled.

In a panicked frenzy, everyone headed for the back door in hopes of escaping before the parents came into the house. Even the people who had been partying upstairs knew about the early return of Olette's parents and got the hell out of there. Roxas watched in amazed disturbance as everyone fled from the home like crazed and wild animals on a terrified rampage. People shoved, people pushed, people punched, people kicked, people bit other people, anything to get out before getting caught. In about five seconds—no more, no less—the house was completely empty. Roxas was desperate to get away as well, but this was rather difficult what with Olette holding him down and trying to force herself on him and all.

"Olette, get off me!" he hissed as the panic started to settle in.

The front door flew open, alerting Roxas that it was now too late to make an escape. Aerith and Luxord stepped through the door and into the house, one cheery while the other was tired.

_I am _so _dead,_ Roxas thought as he saw all fifteen years of his short life flash before his eyes.

"Don't worry about it, Luxord. You did a wonderful job with your presentation," Aerith encouraged as the two adults made their way casually into the den.

"Well, I certainly hope—" Luxord stopped mid-sentence when he finally noticed the condition the house was in. The man's face was suddenly drained of all its color as he stared with his jaw hanging open and his eyes doubled in size. Aerith tilted her head to one side as she stared around the house in perplexed amusement.

Candy wrappers and crushed cans were scattered all over the floor, the carpet barely visible underneath the countless crushed cans. The tables that had been placed throughout the house were now turned over. Someone had managed to actually pull a ceiling fan out of the ceiling, the now useless thing dangling precariously in the air. Some lamps and other glass valuables decorated the floor in a glistening collage of shards, shattered to nothing more than pieces. Spilled soda and beer seeped into the carpet and most likely permanently stained it. Several windows had been broken during the Halloween party, the glass busted out and destroyed into hundreds of glass shards. Some idiots had graffitied obscenity all over the walls when Olette wasn't looking. Bits and pieces of food accompanied the cans, glass shards, soda, and beer all over the carpeted floor. Most of the couch cushions had been taken off the couches and thrown elsewhere in the room, ripped with stuffing hanging out of them. The kitchen was completely decorated from floor to ceiling in food. And as if all that wasn't bad enough, a few of the lights wouldn't stop flickering on and off.

"My, my. This is some mess," Aerith laughed lightly, her hand hovering over her mouth. While she was taking the condition of her house quite well, Luxord was a whole other story. His once colorless face was now burning red from what could only be describe as indignant fury and wrath.

_I wonder how bad upstairs is,_ Roxas couldn't help but wonder inwardly. If things were this bad downstairs, then upstairs (and probably the backyard as well) must have looked like hell. A minute too late, the blond boy had finally realized Olette was still lying quite suggestively on top of him, drunk far beyond her senses. Her dad had just noticed this as well, which wasn't the best time for that since Olette had resumed trying to force her lips onto Roxas' own lips. The tension in the room grew unbearably thick, and Roxas could feel the murderous gaze of Luxord piercing right through him.

"WHAT THE HELL!" Luxord roared upon catching Roxas and Olette in the act.

"Heya, Daddy! Oh, guess what? I think I might like beer!" Olette giggled once she looked up at the enraged man, her face still flushed from consuming the multiple cans of beer.

The expression on Luxord's face told the entire world he was ready to burst a blood vessel. And possibly explode. He glared at Roxas with a dark, dangerous look filled with detestation. Roxas smiled nervously, only able to wonder just exactly what was going through the man's head while trying to keep Olette away from his face and neck. No doubt he thought it was _Roxas_ who instigated this little… scene. But then again, that was the job of a father: To always blame the boy. Plus, it didn't help much that Olette was obviously drunk. Not only did it seem like Roxas was trying to get more than friendly with his daughter through Luxord's eyes, but now it also seemed like the blond boy was trying to take advantage of Olette while her senses were impaired. This did not mean good news for Roxas.

"Oh! Hello, Roxas," Aerith greeted exuberantly. She clearly didn't care about the mess or the fact that her stepdaughter was partaking in some questionable activity. Quite the opposite of Luxord.

"WHAT THE BLOODY HELL IS GOING ON HERE?" Luxord bellowed above average voice volume as he yanked Roxas off the couch by the collar of his costume, causing Olette to topple to the floor. She began giggling drunkenly in a girlish and high-pitched tone, rolling around on the floor.

"Um… well you see, sir… that is… um…" Roxas fumbled horribly over his words, his tongue unable to produce complete sentences. He was just about ready to pee his pants. If Olette's dad didn't kill him, then the self-induced heart attack the poor blond boy was currently suffering from would do the job. It was either going to be the heart attack or the look Luxord was giving him that had the ability to kill. Oh, if looks could kill. Luckily for Roxas, they couldn't.

_I'm too young to die! _the blond teen cried pathetically in his head when the panic got to him.

Their moment was interrupted when they all heard footsteps coming from the stairs. Everyone in the room glanced up at the stairs to see who was coming down. Zexion and Yuffie descended down the stairs, laughing quietly and mischievously with each other. If the others didn't know any better, they would have easily assumed that Yuffie and Zexion just had a bit of fun of their own. Had Olette been sober she would have questioned Yuffie's own sensible thinking. The two newcomers stopped half way down when they noticed Zexion's parents, both freezing from sudden realization. Luxord's eyes widened appallingly upon glancing up at the two. Everyone present exchanged a long and uncomfortable moment of silence with each other. Saying the moment was awkward would have been quite the understatement.

"…I'm gonna go now," Yuffie said slowly just to break the silence. She hurried down the stairs, scampered past Olette's parents, and ran out the front door.

"Aerith, Dad, you're home early. Well… I'll leave this to Olette," Zexion tittered as he ran back upstairs. The boy disappeared in time to avoid the rest of his father's wrath. Unfortunately, that left Roxas the victim of Luxord's fury. Olette's father returned his attention to the blond teen, the glower set back on his face.

"What happened?" he snarled darkly.

"Um… um…" Unfortunately, Roxas couldn't respond because his brain had gone dead several seconds earlier.

"Oh, Luxord, let the poor boy go," Aerith demanded lightly of her husband. For a moment, all Luxord did was glare directly into Roxas' eyes. After a moment or so, he let go of the tight grip he had on the boy's collar and Roxas landed back on his feet. Smiling, Aerith directed her attention back at the boy. "Now, Roxas, tell us what happened."

"We, um, kind of threw a Halloween party," he admitted, putting some of the blame on Olette. Hey, if he was going down she was going down with him.

Aerith tapped her index finger lightly against her lips. "Well, that definitely explains the boy passed out on our front lawn," she said.

Roxas quickly peered out the window, only to see Seifer sprawled out on the front lawn, indeed passed out. A pained smile slowly crawled onto his face, his eyes still on the unconscious junior. He could only wonder how long had Seifer been passed out on the lawn. It was amazing no one had noticed up until now. That would explain the lack of trick-or-treats approaching Olette's house for Halloween. Looking away from the odd sight, Roxas forced himself to look back up at Olette's parents. He had no problem with Aerith. It was Luxord that Roxas was afraid of.

"I'm, uh, sorry about your house… I guess," Roxas laughed nervously as he rubbed the back of his neck out of embarrassment.

"You throw a party in my house," Luxord growled in a dangerously low tone, pulling off Leon amazingly well, "destroy the entirety of my home, invite strangers into my house, leave some bloody bloke passed out on my front lawn, introduce my daughter to beer, and then force yourself on her, and you expect me to accept your apology?" The father had raised the volume of his voice gradually as he went down the list of reasons as to why he shouldn't forgive Roxas, the boy flinching at the increase of volume used in Luxord's voice.

They stood in yet another moment of silence, except this one wasn't nearly as awkward as the last one. Roxas stared up at the enraged man, unable to put words together to make out a sentence. Not only was he frightened to the point of fainting, but he also found himself (for once in his life) ashamed for what he had done. Olette staggered to her feet, once she had finished her random giggle fest, and sloppily ambled her way over to Roxas. She supported herself by leaning against the boy and throwing her arm around his shoulders. While she smiled widely at everyone, Roxas couldn't help but glance nervously back and forth between the drunken girl and her father. This wasn't helping out his situation very much, not that Olette was aware of this. Instead, she directed her smile up at Luxord and wagged a finger at him.

"Now, Daddy, be nice to Roxas. This is the guy I'm going to marry someday, after all," she laughed aloofly, teetering back and forth. The bluntness of her comment caused Roxas' face to tint slightly pink.

"Honey, what's wrong with you?" Aerith asked from behind Luxord.

"Oh, I'm just drunk!" Olette laughed loudly, waving her hand at Aerith as a way of telling her stepmother to just forget about it. There was yet another prolonged moment of silence.

"WHAT?" Luxord shouted with a demented glint in his eyes.

° ˚ • ◊ • ˚ °

Olette sighed irritatingly, trying to block out the sound of her father's angered voice. She stood in the kitchen with an overstuffed garbage bag in her hands. Even after what had to be hours of cleaning up the mess the partiers left in her house, her home still seemed unimaginably dirty. The horrible thing about the situation, though, was that Olette was left to clean up the mess all by herself. Luxord found it a fitting punishment for her throwing a party behind his back the other night. She trudged out of the kitchen with Luxord still shouting orders at her from behind.

"And when you get back, you have to scrub all the graffiti off the walls!" her father ordered as Olette yanked open the sliding glass door in the kitchen that led to the backyard. Grumbling incoherent words to herself, she slid the door shut and muffled out her father's voice. If anyone was to blame for the mess her house was currently in, it was Roxas.

Olette stomped her way over to the trashcans in the backyard, dragging the oversized bag of garbage with her. The thing was stuffed to the point of explosion with cans and candy wrappers, along with some other questionable items that she would rather leave unidentified. The brunette yanked the lid off the trashcan and tried to stuff the garbage bag into it, ignoring the beautifully decorated night sky above. As a night sky usually was, it was inked with a black outer space sprinkled with what had to be millions of stars and one faintly bright moon. Olette didn't care. She had bigger things to worry about, like the mess she still had to clean up. As she slammed the lid back onto the trashcan, a sudden voice spoke out to her from behind.

"Cleaning up?" Roxas asked from his side of the fence, leaning casually against it as he intently watched Olette through the dark.

She sent him a dark frown with her green eyes narrowed, though she doubted he could see it with nothing more than the light of the moon. Set on his face was an expression void of any emotion. The blank look on Roxas' face didn't quell Olette's frustration with the blond. She slowly marched her way over to the fence that divided her backyard from Roxas', and stood in front of him with annoyance radiating from her.

"Cleaning up!" Olette mocked with a leer. "Of course I am! That stupid party left my house in ruins. And not only do I have to clean it up by myself, but I have to do it with a hangover!" She shook her head angrily, stopping quickly when she realized it only increased her alcohol-induced headache in pain. "I can't even remember what happened during half of the party. Or drinking beer."

A strained grin appeared on Roxas' face as he momentarily glanced away from the upset brunette and rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. "That's probably a good thing…"

She eyed him suspiciously. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Roxas held up his hands defensively, the nervous grin still stuck on his face. "Nothing, nothing," he tittered.

They fell into a moment of silence as Olette kept her intense gaze on the blond before her. "I do remember, however," she said with a snippy, yet tranquil, tone, "what you did for me yesterday."

Roxas tilted his head to the side when he was unable to get her implication.

"Seifer," she said bluntly, her face going annoyingly blank.

"Oh." He looked away again out of embarrassment and directed his eyes up at the sky. "That."

"Thanks," Olette muttered quickly while glaring at the ground. Roxas glanced back at her with surprise vivid on his face.

"You're welcome," he replied quietly, looking back up at the stars.

"And sorry."

"For?"

"Shoving you."

"It's fine," Roxas chuckled anxiously. "Your behavior was understandable."

"You're still not off the hook!" Olette warned as she shoved her index finger in his face. "I'll never forgive you for throwing a Halloween party in my house without me knowing!"

A crooked smirk replaced the nervous smile that had previously been on Roxas' face. "I thought it was pretty epic," he snickered.

"I thought it was probably the most horrible thing you've ever done to me," she retorted calmly as she crossed her arms. "Aside from you ruining my life completely."

"Don't forget, I saved you from Seifer," the blond boy reminded with a defensive smirk.

"Had it not been for you throwing the party in the first place, I would have never been attacked by Seifer when he was drunk," Olette pointed out, the irritated look settling back onto her face.

"Good point…" Roxas chuckled nervously as he rubbed the back of his neck again.

Olette's eyes picked up on an odd sight when the boy did this. She missed it before, but she was now able to make out the strange bruise on Roxas' neck in the light of the moon when he began rubbing it again. Smirking, Olette leaned in close to scrutinize the hickey. Roxas stepped back slightly when she got too close, but this didn't stop Olette from snickering and smirking up at the boy.

"Is that a hickey you got there, Nohart?" she snickered.

Roxas quickly clamped his hand over his neck in order to hide the hickey from Olette. Even in the faint light, she was able to make out the tint of pink appearing suddenly on his face. "N-No!" he denied while stumbling backwards.

"Liar," Olette cackled, now trying to pry Roxas' hand away from his neck. "You got some action last night, didn't you? Who gave you that hickey?"

"No one!" Roxas answered as his voice cracked. "I don't have a hickey!"

"Ooh! Who was it? Who was it?" Olette squealed evilly as she smirked at the nervous blond from the other side of the fence.

"Nobody gave it to me! Leave me alone, Gainsborough!" Roxas snapped, turning his back on the brunette girl and clasping his hand tightly over his neck.

"So it _is_ a hickey!"

"I never said that!"

"Hmm, whatever," Olette sang with an evil chime in her voice. She turned back towards her house, satisfied with the reaction she got out of Roxas. "If you don't mind, I have to get back to cleaning up the mess you made."

She started back towards her house without another word. The vexed frown took over her face once more as soon as she remembered the state her house was in. The last thing she wanted to do was clean it up, but her father wasn't about to let her get away with the party. Her walk back towards the sliding glass door that led into the kitchen was interrupted when Roxas spoke up embarrassingly from behind her.

"Do you… do you need help cleaning up your house?" the blond boy questioned from the other side of the fence.

Swiftly, Olette spun partway on her heels to glance back over at him. He had resumed rubbing his neck with his eyes downcast out of slight embarrassment. After clearing his throat awkwardly Roxas finally tore his eyes away from the ground and locked eyes with the brunette.

"Are you suggesting you'd like to help?" she snickered, forcing a smirk to replace her frown. Olette crossed her arms as she kept her gaze with Roxas steady.

"I wouldn't _like_ to, but I'll help if you need it," he huffed with a pout.

Smiling discreetly to herself, Olette motioned for Roxas to follow her. "Come on, then. It's a big mess. It'll probably take us hours if the both of us clean it up together."

Roxas hopped easily over the fence, simply using one arm to get himself over into Olette's yard. As he trailed after her he asked her, "And how long would it take if it was just you that was cleaning it?"

"A few days. Maybe a week," Olette answered while shrugging her shoulders in uncertainty.

"It's that big of a mess?" Roxas laughed with a nervous tone as they stepped into the kitchen together.

"It's that big."


	9. Daddy Dearest

**A/N – Edited 1/26/09. A new idea for a chapter, involving Roxas' daddy issues.**

° ˚ • ◊ • ˚ °

**C** h **a** p **t** e **r** N **i** n **e**

**Daddy**Dearest

The cool breeze passed gently through the leaves of the tree, weaving its way around Olette as she sat silently on one of the taller branches. Her green eyes were directed up at the night sky, glued intently to the crescent moon. The moon shined dimly, its pale light cascading down on the neighborhood below. Olette parted her lips and sighed heavily, slowly freezing to death but refusing to go back inside the house. Both her parents were currently sitting on the couch in the living room, watching same late night movie showing on TV that the brunette girl was less than interested in. As for her brother, Zexion was locked inside his room concocting schemes and pranks to pull on his older sister when her guard was down. She he retreated to the backyard and climbed the tree when both Kairi and Selphie logged off of IM, leaving her bored out of her mind.

Olette's legs swung back and forth, dangled over the side of the tree branch. The lack of stars surrounding the moon made it somewhat difficult to see through the darkness, the little moonlight useless now more than usual. Her eyes began to strain painfully, and she was going to jump off the branch and head back into the warmth of her house when something caught her attention. The green-eyed brunette remained sitting casually on the tree branch in total silence when a certain someone stormed out of the neighboring house and stomped into his own backyard, kicking the screen door shut behind him. Olette watched with a tilt of her head as Roxas kicked at the grass and grumbled loud curses to himself, crumpling something in his hand before chucking it to the ground. He turned his back on Olette, still unaware that she was in the tree, and ran both his hands through his hair before resting them on the back of his head.

If she didn't know any better, she would have to say he was in a bad mood.

"Dammit…" Roxas sounded frustrated, ready to punch anybody who messed with him in the throat.

"My, my," Olette finally spoke up from her spot in the tree, unable to control the mocking chime in her voice. The blond spun around on his heels in shock, staring up at Olette from his backyard with widened sapphire irises. "That's quite the little tantrum you're throwing."

He crossed his arms, the brunette able to make out his pout even through the dark. "You're one to talk."

"What? Me?" Olette shrugged her shoulders, smirking broadly to herself. "Who's throwing a tantrum? Certainly not I."

Roxas' eye twitched at the vivid mock in her voice. "Yeah, well, you can throw one hell of a tantrum when you're in the mood."

Olette sat back on the tree trunk, still smirking down at the agitated blond. "Why the bad mood? Mommy said you get no dessert?" she joshed.

"You're not as funny as you think you are!" Roxas hissed while turning his back on the girl. "It's none of your business anyway."

He blinked several times to himself when he heard a dull thud from behind him. Slowly, he glanced over his shoulder only to see Olette had jumped from the tree branch she was sitting on and landed in his backyard. Before he had a chance to make a move, the brunette was already hurrying towards the crumpled piece of paper that Roxas threw at the ground.

"Hey! Wait a minute!" Roxas reached for the paper in her hands, but she quickly dodged, whirling behind him and pulling the paper open in front of her.

Smirking to herself, and straining her eyes to make out the tiny text, Olette began reading aloud, "Dear Roxas, how is Twilight Town? It certainly has become a lot quieter in the house with both you and your mother gone. It's actually kind of lonely."

Giggling, she moved out of the way when Roxas attempted to tackle her. He fell to the grass with a loud grunt. Olette continued.

"Is Larxene, your mother that is, seeing anybody new? Hopefully it's somebody nice and someone you can get along with. Roxas, there's something I have to tell you."

"Quit reading it!" the blond snarled, making yet another attempt to swipe the letter away from the girl.

"Eep!" Olette yelped loudly and ran away when Roxas lunged at her. It was another failed attempt, and he only found himself sprawled out on the ground again. Entertained by torturing him, the brunette girl continued reading his private letter out loud. "I hope you don't become upset when I tell you I've started dating again and am seeing someone new."

She stopped suddenly, surprised by the words that came out of her mouth. Her green eyes peered around the letter she held directly in front of her face and trailed down to Roxas. He slowly sat up on the ground, one leg propped up as he ran his hand through his spiky hair. For a moment, he stared down at his feet, no longer trying to take back the letter Olette stole from him. After a minute or two of silence, Roxas craned his head back and stared up at the girl with solemn eyes.

"Well?" he murmured. "Why'd you stop reading?"

"Er!" Olette quickly ripped her eyes away from the expressionless boy and directed them back at the letter she held in both her hands. Suddenly, she felt embarrassed reading the letter, awkward to have accidentally stumbled upon Roxas' family issues. Swallowing down the lump that formed in her throat, she continued, "I've been dating this woman for a while now, and she's very nice. I think you would like her if you met her. Roxas, I'm going to marry this woman."

The words stopped automatically on their own, Olette's awkwardness increasing tenfold. This really was none of her business. Her small joke seemed to have turned into a big deal, and she allowed the letter to drop back to the ground. She would have loved nothing more than to tease Roxas, but this really wasn't something she was about to tread over. The paper landed by her feet, rustling against the grass. Olette's eyes wandered back down to Roxas, who was still sitting casually on the grass.

"Um…" An apology would have sufficed, but Olette found herself unable to put words together to form a sentence.

"I wonder what my mom and dad were thinking," Roxas spoke up quietly, finally looking back up at the girl, "when they said 'I do.'"

Olette remained silent for a moment, until she was unable to hold back her tongue and said, "I'm guessing you don't like the idea of your dad marrying another woman?"

Roxas slowly stood up and stretched his arms. He brushed off his pants before casting Olette a side-glance. "I was actually hoping," he admitted, "that the two of them would realize the divorce was a big mistake and get back together."

Olette quickly turned her head away when she found herself unable to look him directly in the eyes. "Sorry, I guess…"

The blond only shrugged and stuffed his hands in his pockets, a sort of reassurance to Olette that she really had nothing to apologize for.

"There's nothing I can do about it now, I guess," Roxas sighed heavily, now making his way back towards his house. "Still, I wish I could convince my dad he's making a mistake, marrying another woman."

"I guess you still could," Olette mentioned aloofly, also heading towards the fence that separated her own backyard from Roxas'. He halted in his tracks and sent her a confused glimpse. The girl felt his stare and cast him a glance of her own. "You can at least let him know how you feel."

Roxas looked away and stared down at his shoes. "I guess I could…"

"So give him a call." Olette was about to jump over the fence when she heard Roxas mutter something behind her.

"He changed the phone number…"

Olette sighed, appalled that his dad would actually do something like that. "Then send him a letter. That's just as good," she suggested.

But Roxas slowly shook his head in disagreement. "No," he replied, mostly talking to himself. "That's not good enough." The blond boy quickly whirled around to face Olette, a determined look suddenly set on his face. "I need to tell him in person. That'll have a bigger effect on him!"

"Good luck with that, then," Olette said with a heavy sigh, ready to jump over the fence. She never got the chance because Roxas gasped and rushed up to her.

"You mean you're not going to help me!" he lamented, almost like he was offended.

"What do you need help with?" Olette snapped with an eyebrow arched.

"I have to get to Traverse Town!" the blond informed. "I can't do that on my own!"

"And why's that?"

"Do you really think I'm going to tell my mom that I want to go to Traverse Town to let my dad know how I feel about him remarrying?" Roxas tried convincing.

Olette frowned, irritated that he was actually thrusting his problems onto her. "Then catch a bus on your own!"

"…I don't have any money on me." Roxas was almost embarrassed to admit this. Either that or he was just plain lying.

"For the love of…" Olette rubbed her temples as she leaned back on the fence. She fluttered open one eye, shocked by the puppy look Roxas was giving her. "Alright," she groaned, causing the boy's face to light up. Roxas was lucky his puppy look actually worked, otherwise she might have just kicked him. "I'll help you get to Traverse Town."

"Great," Roxas laughed. "I can't let my mom know about this, but I have to tell my dad somehow."

"Yeah, yeah," Olette sighed. She was finally able to jump over the fence, landing in her own backyard. When she straightened back up, she sent Roxas a serious look from the other side. "We leave early in the morning tomorrow."

Roxas gave her a single nod of his head. "Right." With that said, he turned his back on her and hurried back into his own house.

Olette continued frowning into the dark, cursing herself for giving in so easily. Had she not been so sympathetic towards the boy, she might have refused and allowed him to go all the way to Traverse Town on his own. How far away was Traverse Town from Twilight Town, anyway? Huffing, she spun on her heels and faced her house. Heading back towards the looming house, she rhetorically asked herself,

"Dare I ask, what have I gotten myself into?"

° ˚ • ◊ • ˚ °

How she had managed to sneak out of bed and out of the house without her parents knowing, Olette wasn't quite sure. Whatever the miracle, she found herself waiting on the curb for a certain blond to show up. The watch on her wrist let her know it was too early in the morning on a Saturday. 6: 30 AM, to be more specific. A tiresome pout etched into her face, yawning immediately after pouting. Never in her right mind would Olette have woken up so early in the morning on a _Saturday_. She still wondered why she agreed to help Roxas out. In her pocket was whatever money she had, hopefully enough to catch a bus to Traverse Town. Just as she was about to fall asleep standing up, she heard the sound of hurried footsteps from behind her.

Olette looked over her shoulder to see Roxas running towards her at top speed, his breath coming out in visible puffs because of the chilly weather. He gradually came to a halt in front of her, desperately trying to catch his breath as he knelt over with his hands placed right above his knees.

"I'm so sleepy," Olette complained before Roxas had a chance to speak up. "Why do we have to go so early?"

Roxas glared up at her, still bent over as he tried to regain his breath. "You want to go to Traverse Town and be back before dark, don't you?"

Olette ignored the snarky tone in his voice and pat one of the pockets of her pants. The money inside her pocket jingled.

"Come on," she order after quickly turning her back on the blond, and began her way down the sidewalk. "I'll pay for tickets for a bus to Traverse Town." She quickly added under her breath, "Maybe that way you can deal with your daddy issues."

Roxas frowned annoyingly, approaching her side. "I heard that!"

° ˚ • ◊ • ˚ °

"I'm sorry," the employee behind the ticket counter apologized. "But none of the buses are leaving for Traverse Town today."

"What?" Roxas leaned forward on the counter, getting in the employee's face. The nervous employee backed away from the outraged boy. "Are you sure? None? None at all?"

The employee shook his head quickly. "I'm afraid not," he said. "Sorry."

Olette frowned to herself as Roxas pulled dejectedly away from the counter. He, too, had a scowl set on his face, disappointed to hear this. The girl cast him a side-glance, now glaring at the blond boy.

"So, you're telling me," she growled with a strained smile, "that I got up early on a Saturday for _nothing_?"

The two teens had exited the bus station by now, the brunette glaring at the boy while the blond frowned down at his shoes. Roxas' hands were stuffed deep into his pockets as he trudged angrily down the sidewalk. Olette raised her chin into the air, huffing and pouting snobbishly.

"There's gotta be another way to get to Traverse Town," Roxas encouraged himself.

"Good luck finding one on your own," Olette spat as she quickened her pace in hopes of ditching the boy. "I'm going home and sleeping."

Roxas stood in the middle of the empty sidewalk, thinking to himself. He watched as the cars on the street began slowing down at the red light. A delivery truck pulled up behind a smaller car with its engine still running. Roxas' eyes widened when he noticed the back of the truck was still left open, as if inviting him in. He smirked, quickly devising a plan.

Olette continued down the sidewalk with her home as her destination. However, when she noticed that Roxas was no longer following her, she stopped slowly in her tracks. Reluctantly, she peered over her shoulder to see what had happened to him. The brunette gasped and her green eyes widened when she caught sight of Roxas sneaking over to a delivery truck that had stopped at a red light. He lifted the back of the delivery truck up and jumped inside, looking back in time to notice Olette staring at him from down the sidewalk like he was insane.

"What is he _doing_?"

When Roxas locked eyes with Olette from the back of the delivery truck, he signaled for her to hurry up. Without thinking, Olette's legs began moving on their own and before she knew it, she found herself hurrying over towards the delivery truck. Unfortunately, the red light turned green. Slowly, the truck started up again and began moving down the street. Olette gasped and tried running faster, Roxas' expression from the back of the truck now panicked. He stretched out his arm, his hand held out for her to grab. Olette threw out her own arm in a desperate attempt to take his hand. Luckily the truck hadn't hit full speed yet, which allowed her to catch up some. She was just mere inches away from Roxas' hand. Once again without thinking, Olette sprang forward through the air in hopes of making it into the back of the delivery truck. For a moment, she thought she wasn't going to make it but instead fall back on the road and possibly get run over by another car. However, when she closed her eyes, she felt Roxas' hand grab her own. The boy quickly pulled her inside the truck, using all the strength he had to get her in.

Olette flopped on the floor of the delivery truck, rolling over onto her side and then onto her back as she gasped for breath. To say everything that had just happened was a shock to her would have been an understatement. Roxas leaned back on his arms, sighing out of relief. He smiled down at the gasping girl, though his smile went unnoticed by her. Olette suddenly bolted up and whacked the back of Roxas' head as hard as she could with her fist. Roxas groaned and winced in pain, rubbing the back of his now throbbing head as he glared at Olette out of the corner of his eye.

"What the heck was that for?" he demanded.

"Nohart, you idiot!" Olette shouted, causing Roxas to wince again. "What were you thinking? What the hell compelled you to climb into the back of a delivery truck?"

Roxas clamped his hand shut over her mouth before she could yell again, only angering the girl more. He brought his index finger to his lips, shushing her.

"Shuddup!" he hissed through his teeth. "You don't want the driver to hear us, do you?"

Olette swatted his hand away, and leaned in to whisper to him. "What the _hell_ were you thinking, Nohart?"

"Hey," he defended with a smirk. "For all you know, this truck might be heading to Traverse Town. There weren't any buses, so I decided to hitch a ride on this truck instead."

"And what if this truck _isn't_ going to Traverse Town, huh?" Olette snapped in a hushed tone. "Did you think about that?"

Roxas' smile grew in both size and innocence as he rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "No, not really…"

Olette groaned loudly to herself as she slapped the palm of her hand against her forehead. "For all you know, this thing could be heading to Destiny Islands instead!"

"Oh, please," Roxas chuckled overconfidently. He sat back again, resting his weight on his arms. "I doubt this truck is going _that_ far. We'll make it to Traverse Town in no time."

He got no response out of Olette as the truck drove over a bump. Curious, he opened up one eye and cast the girl a side-glance. Roxas frowned upon seeing the girl had fallen asleep while sitting up. The blond began snapping his fingers near the girl's face in an attempt to wake her up.

"Hey! Wake up! Don't fall asleep on me!"

"Grrr… you bastard," Olette growled, reluctantly opening her eyes and glaring up at the blond. Afraid for his own safety, Roxas scooted back away from the girl until his back hit the side of the truck, now leaning back on the wall. Olette groggily crawled after him. She sat herself next to the boy and pinned her back against the wall, resting her head back and closing her eyes again. "I was just going to give you some bus tickets to Traverse Town. That was all. The last thing I wanted to do was go on a road trip with you, of all people," she grumbled to herself, loud enough though so that Roxas could hear her.

He frowned darkly to himself, ready to retaliate with a complaint of his own. But when he turned his head so that he could glare down at her, Roxas stopped himself before he could yell at the brunette girl. It turned out that Olette had fallen asleep again, snoring softly to herself. Roxas' eyes narrowed in agitation, but his expression quickly softened as his lips turned up in a smile. He, too, craned his head back and rested it against the wall. Secretly, Roxas appreciated Olette coming along with him. Not that he was going to let her know this. Because he wasn't.

The delivery truck drove over another bump, this time sending Roxas jolting up into the air a few inches. The force of the bump caused Olette's sleeping body to lose balance. She slumped over and knelt against Roxas, her head now resting on his shoulder. The blond looked down at her out of slight surprise, realizing that she hadn't woken up yet. Olette yawned slightly, grinned in her sleep, and then nestled her head further into his shoulder much like she was sleeping on a pillow. Roxas swallowed nervously before quickly looking away from the sleeping girl, his face sprinkled with a red flush. He would have pushed her away, but he suddenly found himself too tired to care. Roxas yawned to himself before resting his head back against the wall and closing his eyes. He was going to rest his eyes, but only for a few minutes.

Olette wasn't sure how many hours she had been sleeping. However long, she was sure of one thing. Both she and Roxas were still hiding out in the back of the delivery truck. What had lulled her to sleep was the movement and rhythm of the truck driving down the road, making it difficult to stay awake. Another reason she had fallen asleep was because she was unable to sleep much the previous night, and also had to get up at an ungodly hour. She groaned to herself, waking up to a comforting warmth. The girl tried to open her eyes, still groggy from sleeping in an uncomfortable position. When her bleary vision cleared up, she was greeted with the sight of Roxas' neck. Olette blinked, confused as to why she was seeing this up close.

And then she noticed how she was using Roxas' right shoulder as a pillow.

And how her arm was draped loosely around his waist.

And how Roxas' own head was resting on her own with his arm wrapped around her shoulders as he continued sleeping.

Olette's eye twitched as she gritted her teeth together, unable to handle the situation she had woken up to.

The driver of the delivery truck hummed loudly to the song playing on the radio, a smile playing on his lips. He drummed his thumbs on the steering wheel as he kept his eyes glued to the road. So far, the trip had gone well. No sudden stops, no accidents, no unnecessary incidents, no troublesome hitchhikers…

"WHAT THE EFFING HELL!"

The driver yelped at the sudden scream coming from the back of the truck and swiveled the steering wheel hard to the right out of fright. He managed to regain his senses and turned the steering wheel to the left in time, getting the truck to drive normally down the road again. His heart continued thumping loudly in his chest as he listened to the noises coming from the back of the delivery truck. The truck driver stared into his rear view mirror out of habit and listened carefully. There was an angered scream, then a yelp, then something that sounded much like a punch, then someone swearing in what had to be pain. The truck driver narrowed his dark eyes, gripping his steering wheel tightly.

There were stowaways on his delivery truck.

Roxas sat on his rear end, leaning back on one arm while rubbing his painfully throbbing head with his other hand. Olette huffed angrily as she stood on her feet, having a hard time keeping balance. Her tightly clenched fist had turned red after punching Roxas in the head when she woke up. The blond boy opened his eyes and stared up at Olette, his expression a mixture of pained hurt and agitation. Olette's teeth remained gritted together, staring down at Roxas with a glare that had turned her face red from anger.

"What the freakin' hell is the problem?" Roxas demanded, wincing in pain when raising his voice only inflicted more pain on his head.

"You… Pervert! Lecher!" Olette shouted in a whiney tone. She forgot to keep her voice down, in case the driver of the truck heard them. "Degenerate! Sicko!"

Roxas' face contorted into one of both confusion and annoyance. "What are you talking about?"

"Trying to take advantage of me while I'm asleep!" Olette hissed with venom in her words. "You make my stomach churn!"

Roxas' face turned red from the accusation, honestly confused as to what she was ranting about. "Seriously, what the hell are you talking about? I was just sleeping!" he retaliated. The blond snorted, throwing his head to the side as he kept his eyes on the girl. "_I'm_ not the one who was cuddling." That was when the mischievous simper showed up on his face.

Olette's cheeks erupted into a red frenzy, the girl stumbling backwards on her feet at the sudden accusation. Words stumbled around on her tongue, and the only thing she could do was stare down at the blond, spiky-haired boy with widened and outraged eyes.

"Cuddling?" she shrilled somewhat high-pitched. This caused Roxas' smirk to grow in satisfaction. "I wasn't cuddling!"

Their argument was cut short when the truck took a sudden jolt to the right. Olette yelped and slammed against the wall while Roxas was sent rolling and crashing against the wall. The truck slowed down to a stop, and both the teens listened as the engine died. They blinked as they heard the truck's door open and then slam closed. There was the sound of rushed footsteps, which caused Olette and Roxas to exchange panicked glances. The back of the truck flew open, only to reveal a very angry looking truck driver holding onto a wooden baseball bat. Both Roxas and Olette screamed and the man shouted in unadulterated anger,

"Damn kids! Get out of my truck!"

Roxas managed to roll out of the way in time as the man swung the baseball bat down on him, denting the metallic floor. Panicked, Roxas grabbed Olette's hand and the two jumped out of the back of the truck together just as the man took a swing at the brunette girl's head. Thanks to Roxas, the man missed by a few centimeters. Both Olette and Roxas made a mad dash for it down the road, hand in hand. The man stood at the front of his truck, shaking his fist in the air, as he bellowed at the two teens,

"You fornicating brats!"

"What did he say?" Olette gasped, insulted that the truck driver would suggest something as lewd as that.

Roxas only laughed, still dragging Olette behind him. "Just be thankful you made it out of there alive!" he teased, grinning at her from over his shoulder.

The two rounded the turn the street took and hurried onto the busy and crowded sidewalk. The streets now turned congested, with cars driving up and down the roads. Still worried that the deranged truck driver was following then, Roxas led Olette down the sidewalk as they weaved their way through the crowd. The two young teenagers made a quick turn and ran into an ally, hiding between a barbershop and a local drug store. Finally, the two skidded to a halt, knelt over as they both gasped heavily for breath. Roxas squeezed Olette's hand hard, his throat burning intensely. Olette's eyes blinked while she gasped, finally aware of whose hand she was holding tightly onto. Just as she was about to pull away, Roxas chuckled lightly to himself. Surprised, she looked up at his grinning face.

"That… was hilarious!" the blond snickered, still wheezing. "Did you see the look on that guy's face?"

For a moment, she frowned. But then after remembering the exact look that was on the truck driver's face when he caught the two of them, she couldn't help but smile and giggle as well.

"I thought we were going to die for sure!" Olette gasped, still trying to regain her breath.

"You and me both!" Roxas straightened up, his breathing finally under control again. He glimpsed out of the ally, towards the busy street. Yanking on Olette's hand, the two emerged from the shadows of the ally and stepped out into the sidewalk. "Something tells me this isn't Twilight Town."

"Where do you think we are?" Olette asked as she glanced at the passersby' faces. No one looked familiar.

"I have no idea," Roxas admitted, also looking into the strangers' faces, as he squeezed her hand again.

Surprised at the fact that she was still holding his hand, Olette pulled her own away and folded her arms behind her back. Roxas pouted, but blew it off. They both looked up at the sky, noticing that it was now some time in the afternoon. Wherever they were, it was certainly a lot bigger than the town they come from. Olette made a guess, and determined that they were now standing in the middle of the street of some city. Everyone continued on his or her way, not even paying the slightest bit of attention to the two bewildered teens.

"Excuse me," Roxas finally asked as he stopped a man in a business suit. "Can you tell us what city this is?"

The man hitched up a suspicious eyebrow as he replied, "Hollow Bastion," before continuing his walk down the crowded sidewalk.

"Hollow Bastion?" Olette echoed, grabbing handfuls of her hair out of panic. "We're that far away from home?"

Unlike Olette, Roxas pumped his fist into the air with a somewhat victorious and toothy smirk. "Alright!" he cheered. "We're closer to Traverse Town than I thought!"

"And how do you suppose we get there?" Olette asked with sarcasm dripping from her voice. The two melted into the crowd, shoving their way down the sidewalk to nowhere in particular. "We're certainly not getting there by car, now are we?"

"Aw, why such the pessimist?" Roxas laughed as he folded his arms behind his head. "We'll get there. Like I said, we're not that far."

Olette could only frown to herself, vexed by Roxas' lighthearted mood. The two of them almost had their heads whacked off, and all he could do was laugh about it? It was his fault the two of them were lost in an oversized city to begin with. It took every fiber of her willpower not to punch the living daylights out of him. And maybe kick him while he was still down. As she contemplated on doing this, her nose was greeted with the aroma of delicious food. Olette stopped immediately in her tracks and directed her gaze to the source of the smell. Off to the right of the two teens was a small diner, filled with the aroma of cooking food. That was when a low growling noise could be heard between the two teenagers.

Roxas smirked softly down at Olette. "Are you hungry?" he teased.

Olette smiled meekly, rubbing the back of her neck. "I skipped out on breakfast this morning," she admitted.

"What a loser!" Roxas chortled as he held his sides. Olette narrowed her emerald colored eyes to slits, glowering up at him. There was another growling noise between them, but this time it didn't come from Olette's stomach. Roxas stopped his cackling and grinned embarrassingly down at the smirking girl. "…I skipped out on breakfast, too."

Olette stuck her hand into the pocket full of money and fingered some of the loose change she had been carrying with her the whole time. "Come on." She gestured her head towards the diner and began towards the building. "I'll buy us lunch."

At the mention of the word "lunch" Roxas obediently followed after the brunette girl.

Roxas wolfed down his food, leaving no crumb behind. Olette only watched him from across the table, sitting completely still in the booth. He started slurping his soda loudly, instantly embarrassing the girl sitting on the other side of the table from him. Olette's own food sat in front of her, half eaten. She was starving, but something told her not as much as Roxas. Much to her surprise, no one seemed to be paying the disgusting boy any attention, minding their own business as Roxas continued eating his diner's food in an uncivilized manner.

"Could you at least try to eat like a human being?" Olette sighed before taking a bite out of the sandwich she had ordered.

Roxas swallowed his mouthful of food and smirked at her. "I am eating like a human being," he informed. "A human being that's starving."

Olette shook her head as Roxas returned to his hamburger and began chewing off bigger bites than he could handle. The two of them suddenly heard girlish giggles from across the diner. Olette blinked and looked up at the source of the giggling while Roxas looked away from his hamburger to see who was softly laughing. Sitting in a booth on the other side of the diner were two girls, both looking directly at Roxas and giggling. When Roxas looked directly at them, both the girls giggled again and waved at him flirtatiously. The boy grinned confidently and waved back at them, flirting back. Olette clenched her fingers, sickened to watch what was going on between both the girls and Roxas. She glared back at the girls and hissed loudly, causing both the teenaged girls to yelp and run out of the diner, frightened. Roxas stared back at her with a disappointed face, like his fun had been ruined.

"Why'd you go and do that?" he whined. His frown quickly changed into a devilish smirk. "Were you jealous?"

Olette scoffed and leaned back in the booth. "Yeah right. They were just annoying to listen to, was all."

"Whatever," Roxas sang, irking Olette. He went back to eating the hamburger he ordered, eating it happily away.

Olette continued watching Roxas intently as he ate his food, still wondering about something. She hadn't asked any questions about his situation because she knew fully well that it wasn't any of her business. Still, she was curious. Divorce had to be a difficult thing on a child, even if that child was fifteen. She drummed her fingers against the tabletop, debating whether or not she should ask him, as Roxas pulled his glass of soda towards him and began sipping it through the straw.

"So, Nohart," she finally decided to speak up. He glimpsed up at her while still sipping his soda. "You wanna talk about it?"

Roxas' once delighted face slowly turned blank as he glanced down at his plate of food, his eyes suddenly turning somber. "Talk about what?" he asked quietly, picking up his hamburger again.

"Your parents," Olette said. "Did they know you didn't want them to get divorced?"

"Of course they knew." Roxas took a bite out of his hamburger, but continued talking in his unusually quiet tone. "But they didn't care. As long as they got rid of each other, they didn't care. So they went through with it."

Olette tilted her head to one side, staring Roxas down. "And how did you react?"

"I didn't," he answered with a shrug. "There was nothing I could do, or so I thought. So I just… went along with it." There was more soda slurping.

"You didn't like it though, did you?" Olette questioned in a voice that was barely above a whisper.

Roxas placed the hamburger down and leaned back in the booth. He propped his arm up on the back of the booth and stared blankly out the window, watching people pass by in a hurry, unaware of the people inside the diner. Their booth remained quiet as the noise in the diner continued around them.

"We were a family," Roxas said. "Or, we used to be. I was certain they both loved each other." He tore his blue eyes away from the window and looked back at Olette, forcing a smile for her. "Guess I was wrong." He leaned over the table and folded his arms together. "Now he's going to marry this other woman, like he _wants_ to forget about Mom and me." Roxas cradled his head in his hand, and stared back out the window. "I don't like it."

Olette could only stare back at Roxas as he continued watching people through the window, her mouth parted slightly in awe. She had been certain that Roxas was unable to feel these human emotions, positive that it was impossible for him. This proved she was wrong about that. In a way, she actually felt sorry for the boy. It seemed that family was important to him, and he came from one that could hardly be considered a family. Had this been a chick flick movie, she might have started crying. Roxas' eyes shifted over to the plate of food sitting in front of Olette. He pointed casually down at the plate, regaining her dazed attention.

"You goin' to eat that?" Roxas asked.

Olette only shook her head and pushed the plate towards the blond boy. He eagerly took the plate from her and began gobbling down the food she had ordered for herself. She watched him in silence, unable to form sentences in her head. It didn't matter. Roxas was too busy stuffing his mouth with food to have a conversation with. After he popped the last bit of food into his mouth, she finally inquired,

"How are we getting to Traverse Town now?"

Roxas wiped his mouth clean with the back of his hand. "You got any money left?" he asked.

Olette nodded her head. "Yeah."

Smiling, Roxas held his index finger in the air as he leaned over the table, winked, and responded, "Taxi!"

"Taxi?" The brunette tilted her head to one side as she repeated the word in the form of a question, her face blank.

° ˚ • ◊ • ˚ °

Olette sat in the back of the yellow taxi with Roxas, listening to the incessant chattering of the taxi driver up in the front. The taxi driver was an odd character, with long pink fair, a light and airy voice, an unusually slender figure accompanied with a feminine face. Oddly enough, though, he was a man who went by the name of Marluxia. He seemed nice enough. But he just wouldn't stop talking. And he kept sending Roxas odd looks, looks that caused the boy to grin nervously and rearrange himself uncomfortably in his seat. Marluxia had finally finished up his humorous story, to which both Olette and Roxas forced a laugh. The background outside the window blurred together into an ugly shadow of multiple colors, the taxi zooming down the street with Traverse Town as their destination.

"So," Marluxia spoke up yet again, causing Roxas and Olette to inwardly groan. "Why are you two kids headed off to Traverse Town on your own?" He smirked teasingly into the rear view mirror when he caught both the teens' eyes. "Eloping?"

Roxas' face contorted into a disgusted frown, and Olette pretended to gag as she stuck her tongue out and jabbed her finger into her throat.

"Yeah right," Roxas scoffed, crossing his arms and glaring out the window. "The only person who would marry Gainsborough is one with a death wish."

Olette's eye twitched, and she glared darkly at the unsuspecting blond boy.

"Ow!"

Roxas rubbed the spot on his head that Olette had bashed her fist into, muttering curses to himself. Olette was now pouting out the window with her arms crossed together. Marluxia chuckled to himself, finding himself amused by the two teens' antics.

"Then why are you two going to Traverse Town?" the pink-haired man asked.

Olette jabbed her thumb at Roxas, putting on an aloof expression. "This one has some daddy issues to take care of."

"They're not daddy issues!" Roxas whined with a defensive pout. "I just have to talk to him, is all!"

Marluxia chuckled yet again. "Well, not to worry," he laughed, irking both the girl and the boy in the backseat. "We're close to Traverse Town. We'll be there shortly."

"Oh." Olette looked at Marluxia directly in the rear view mirror. "How much do I owe you for the drive?"

"Don't worry about it," Marluxia laughed lightly with a wave of his hand. "This ride's free. My treat." A glint flashed across the pink-haired man's eyes as he said this. Glancing over his shoulder, Marluxia smiled suggestively at Roxas in the backseat and purred, "So, Roxas, do you have a boyfriend?"

The taxi skidded to a halt in the middle of the road, its tires squealing violently as it did so. The backdoor flew open and out came a frantic Roxas, dragging Olette behind him by the hand. With his hand holding on tightly to Olette's own hand, he shot down the road at top speed. Marluxia remained behind the wheel of the taxi, blinking in confusion. Roxas continued running down the now dark street, his face twisted into one of frantic disturbance. Meanwhile, Olette was doing her best to keep up with the boy. But inwardly, she was cackling like a madwoman. Not that she could blame Roxas for his reaction. It wasn't every day that a man hit on him, after all.

But she was still inwardly cackling.

° ˚ • ◊ • ˚ °

Olette continued to slowly trudge behind Roxas, her feet on the verge of falling off. The energy was drained completely from her body, and the same could have been said for Roxas. Any minute now, and the two of them were going to collapse to the ground and faint. The night sky above them was pitch black, the moon out along with a few dull stars. Olette groaned to herself, positive that the two were going to make it to Traverse Town and back before it grew dark. They had miscalculated. There was no doubt in Olette's mind that her father was going to kill her when she got home. They had been walking for who knew how long, Roxas refusing to take another taxi out of fear of having another man hit on him. Olette finally toppled over to the ground, sighing heavily and craning her head back.

"That's it. I give up," she whined tiredly. Roxas stopped in his tracks and glanced down at her, his face just as drained looking as her own. "We're never getting to Traverse Town. Let's just find a way to get back home."

"Yeah. I suppose you're right." Roxas also allowed himself to fall to the ground, sighing and hanging his head.

The two sat in silence with nothing but the sound of crickets chirping surrounding them. Both Roxas and Olette glanced up simultaneously, their tired eyes landing on the same sign out in front of them. They only stared for a moment, the text on the sign not clicking in until a few seconds later. Their faces lit up instantly after reading the sign, hardly believing it.

"Welcome to Traverse Town?" Olette read aloud with an excited tone.

Roxas jumped to his feet, the energy returning to his body. "We made it!"

The blond spiky-haired boy dashed off, leaving Olette behind. She, too, hurried to her feet and ran after the boy. Her energy hadn't returned to her quite as instantly as Roxas' had. He rounded a corner before Olette had a chance to catch up to him. When she rounded the corner, she didn't see ahead of herself and accidentally ran into Roxas' back. She stumbled backwards, grunting in pain and holding her nose. Roxas whirled around to look down at her.

"My house is in this neighborhood," he informed, still unaware of the pain Olette was currently in.

"Well, then," she grumbled snappishly. "Let's find your house."

For a moment, Roxas only stared at Olette out of anxiety. Then, he slowly, almost reluctantly, nodded his head. He began his way down the dim sidewalk, which was only lit by a few lampposts. The sidewalk was lined with houses built closely together. Olette looked around, noticing how Traverse Town looked dreary, yet quaint at the same time. She smirked to herself, realizing how this was the perfect place for Roxas. The boy ignored Olette's sudden snickering, though frowned when he concluded that she had to have been laughing at him. They both suddenly stopped in front of a two-story house, one built if brick with dark windows and a wooden front door.

"This is your house?" Olette asked quietly.

Roxas nodded his head with his gaze straight ahead of him, glued on the front door.

"Well, then." Olette walked behind the blond and shoved him forward, causing Roxas to yelp in surprise and stumble forward over his own feet. He glanced back at her, his face vividly confused. "Go knock on the door and say hi."

Roxas faced forward once more and swallowed hard. A nervous lump formed in the back of his throat, making it painful to swallow. He marched forward with fake determination as his palms began sweating. He had played this scene many times in his head, certain that the events would go a certain way. But now that he was actually there, about to confront his dad, he wasn't so sure about it any more. If anything, Roxas wanted to turn right around and run away. However, he dragged Olette all the way to Traverse Town. If he ran away, she was going to kill him. Roxas stepped up the porch stairs and approached the wooden door. The blond held his fist out to knock on the door, but his fist hovered above the door. Roxas looked back over at Olette from over his shoulder. Locking eyes with him, she nodded her head in reassurance. Reluctantly, Roxas turned back around and knocked loudly on the door.

For a minute, no one answered. Roxas was almost relieved. He was about to turn around, shrug his shoulders, and tell the brunette standing behind him it was time to go home. But then the door opened. Roxas flinched, but remained where he was standing. A man with long silver hair and skin even paler than Roxas' stood in the doorway, staring down at the blond boy with dully-colored eyes. The man looked shocked at the boy's arrival, staring down at Roxas with widened irises. Roxas stared up at his own father with widened eyes of his own.

"Roxas?" Sephiroth said in disbelief.

Roxas quickly changed his expression, now trying his best to scowl up at the man. "Hey, Dad."

"What are you doing here?" Sephiroth questioned, now opening the door open all the way. "Your mother just called. She sounded worried, something about you missing."

"I didn't tell her I was coming," Roxas admitted in a strong voice. Meanwhile, Olette stood behind him and watched, surprised at how different Roxas looked from his dad. Apparently, he took mostly after his mother. "There was something I wanted to talk to you about."

"Sephiroth, who is it?" a girlish voice called from inside. The determination was wiped clean from Roxas' face at the sound of the voice, the panicked look returning. A blonde woman appeared in the doorway beside Sephiroth. She smiled warmly down at Roxas, her porcelain face glowing. Her platinum blonde hair flowed over her shoulders in neat, straight tresses. She was slender, and definitely shorter than Sephiroth. The woman's baby blue eyes widened in excitement at the sight of the blond boy. "Oh! He looks like how you described your son, Sephiroth!" The woman looked away from Roxas and glanced up at Sephiroth. "Is he your son?"

Sephiroth wrapped his arm around the woman and gestured towards Roxas. "Naminé, this is my son, Roxas." His smile faltered for a moment, but the man regained it and added, "Roxas, this is my fiancée, Naminé."

Naminé knelt down to Roxas' height and placed her hands over her knees. Her smile grew friendlier as she chirped, "Well, hello there, Roxas! You and I are going to be family soon. I'll be like a mother to you!" She giggled, like she had made a friendly invitation of some sort.

Roxas narrowed his eyes at the woman, angered by the thought. Olette stood back awkwardly, the whole scene unbearable for her to watch. So she turned her head away and decided that the bush growing next to the porch was more interesting to watch.

"You'll never be my mother," Roxas spat calmly, making sure to use as much maliciousness as possible. Naminé blinked, a hurt look spreading across her face.

Hinting on Roxas' true feelings, Sephiroth said, "Why don't you go inside, Naminé?"

The blonde woman obliged and disappeared inside the house. Sephiroth clicked the door behind him shut and faced his son again.

"Is there a reason you're here, Roxas?" the silver-haired man demanded in a calm tone. He crossed his arms, keeping his gaze steady on the boy.

"Dad." Roxas straightened up as the determined expression on his face grew darker. "I don't want you to marry her."

Sephiroth actually looked surprised to hear this. "Roxas?"

"If anything, you should marry Mom again!" Roxas lost his composure and stepped forward, now begging in a pleading manner.

"Roxas…" Sephiroth rubbed his temples, like he was tired of hearing this. "I thought Larxene and I explained this to you."

"Didn't you two love each other?" Roxas whined. Olette started whistling innocently to herself. Distracting herself was starting to become difficult, though. "Why are you going to marry this lady when you still have Mom? You don't care about either of us, do you?"

"Of course I do," Sephiroth snapped. "You're my son, after all. But Larxene and I... It just didn't work."

"What about Mom?" Roxas shouted, clenching his fists. "How do you think she feels?"

"Your mother gave me her best wishes on the wedding," Sephiroth stated bluntly, bringing more hurt to Roxas' face. "Seemed to me like she had no problem with the wedding."

"Well, I do!" Roxas yelled as his face turned light red. "I don't want you to marry this woman! I just want us to be a normal family again!"

The neighborhood fell quiet once more, Roxas breathing heavily after using up all his breath to shout. Sephiroth stared down at his son out of surprise. Olette had stopped whistling and was now looking back and forth between the father and son. Things hadn't gone as smoothly as she expected. Roxas losing his temper was no surprise to her. But if anything, she at least expected him to handle to situation maturely. So much for that.

Roxas quickly looked away from his dad, his eyes squeezed shut out of irritation. He spun on his feet and turned his back to his father. The boy dashed down the porch stairs and hurried down the sidewalk at top speed while shouting,

"What do you care?"

Olette watched him disappear around the corner with her jaw hanging open. Sephiroth stood in the doorway, just as dumbfounded as she was. She quickly turned back around and looked up at the silver-haired man. He glimpsed down at her, and the two fell into awkward silence.

"Heh heh," Olette laughed nervously, slowly backing away from the man. "He… um… he's just upset. I'll go find him."

"And who are you?" Sephiroth asked by the time she walked down the porch stairs backwards.

"Nobody important," Olette chuckled, still nervous, as she waved her hand. "Just your son's worst enemy."

With that said, Olette spun on her heels and hurried down the sidewalk after the disgruntled boy.

She cursed Roxas for running off, especially since she didn't know where to start looking. It didn't help that she was completely unfamiliar with Traverse Town. Plus, it was completely dark out, worsening Olette's vision. The few dimly lit lampposts that appeared on the streets every once in a while were hardly helpful. The brunette girl stumbled around the town for a while, calling out Roxas' name every so often and checking every dark ally for the boy. She had even asked pedestrians that were still out if they had seen the blond boy. Everyone gave her the same answer: No. Olette was about to quit and give up when she walked into the tiny park of Traverse Town. There were no swing sets or sandboxes or any jungle gyms. But there were benches. Lots of them. And Roxas happened to be sitting on one of them by the time she found him.

Olette walked silently over to the bench Roxas was sulking on and plopped herself down in it, making sure to sit all the way on the other end of the bench. She kicked her feet back and forth underneath her, hoping to earn his attention. But Roxas didn't even look up at her. He kept his head hung low, making sure to avoid eye contact with her. Olette sighed to herself and looked up at the sky, not sure what to say to the upset boy exactly. Any other time she would have enjoyed seeing him as depressed as he was now. But at that exact moment, she wasn't.

"You know," Olette began loudly, causing Roxas to sigh. "When I'm upset, I like to talk about my feelings." She cast him a smile. "How about you?"

"Bite me."

"Not the response I was hoping for…" Olette laughed through clenched teeth, her eyebrow twitching in annoyance.

"…I just wanted our family to be normal again," Roxas whispered with his head still hanging. "That's all."

"If it makes you feel any better," Olette said casually as she slumped back in the bench and crossed her legs, "my family isn't normal either."

"I figured that out on my own," Roxas muttered under his breath.

Olette growled, glaring at him through a side-glance. "What I meant was, Aerith is my stepmother!" She calmed herself down and looked back up at the sky. "You didn't even give that Naminé woman a chance."

"You're saying I should?" Roxas snapped as he finally looked up at Olette.

She smiled at him, despite the harsh tone of voice he used on her. "That's exactly what I'm saying," said Olette. "I didn't give Aerith a chance at first, either. But you know what? Turned out she was a good person. For all you know, you might actually like that Naminé lady."

Olette shrugged and sat back up. Looking down, she was greeted by a surprised and awed look on Roxas' face. She smiled back at him, satisfied with his response. Roxas hung his head again, still not ready to cooperate.

"I guess you're right," he admitted quietly. "But… I miss them being together. My mom and dad."

Olette's smile softened slowly, her eyes glued to the boy. He wouldn't look back up at her, refusing to meet her gaze. The park around them grew quiet, with nothing but the sound of the breeze whistling through the trees. After a minute of listening to the wind, Olette asked,

"Wanna go home?"

Slowly, Roxas looked up at her through a side-glance. "…Yeah."

He rose from the bench, stuffing his hands into his pockets. Olette jumped off the bench after him, trailing behind him down the cobblestone path. Suddenly, though, Roxas stopped in his tracks. Olette screeched to a halt as well, staring surprised at the back of Roxas' blond head. They stood in the dark for a moment, once again falling into silence.

"Gainsborough…" Roxas glanced over his shoulder back at Olette with somber eyes. "…Thanks."

Quickly, he turned back around and slowly began to walk off. Olette stood where she was for a moment, blinking in confused bewilderment. She smiled to herself and went into pursuit after Roxas. They reached the edge of the park, just about to enter the main section of town.

"Roxas?" someone called from somewhere ahead of them. Both the teens lifted their heads, only to see Sephiroth standing across the street, completely out of breath. A logical explanation as to why the man couldn't breathe properly was that the silver-haired father had run all over Traverse Town in search of his disgruntled son. Upon seeing the two teenagers, Sephiroth held up some keys. "Do you two want me to drive you home?"

Roxas narrowed his eyes, ready to refuse the offer. Olette saw this and quickly elbowed him in the ribs. The blond boy grunted and winced at the force of strength the girl used. He glared at Olette, but instantly wiped the frown off his face when he saw the darker glower she was giving him. Sighing in defeat, Roxas redirected his eyesight to his father.

"Sure, whatever," Roxas grumbled under his breath, looking away from his father once more.

Smiling to himself, Sephiroth waved for the two to follow him. Roxas reluctantly crossed the street and approached the man, briskly walking past him in a manner that clearly stated he was in no mood to exchange words with Sephiroth. Olette was right behind the two, still uncomfortable with interfering with their little moment.

"When you get home," Sephiroth began in a firm, yet friendly, tone, "you owe your mother an apology. She was worried sick about you."

Roxas kept his head hung so as to not look his dad directly in the eye. Still keeping ahead of the man, the spiky-haired boy replied in a hushed and exasperated voice, "Yes, Sir."

Olette smiled to herself, keeping her smile tiny and discreet as she followed the two close behind. Roxas' attitude towards his father was hardly friendly. But it was a start.

° ˚ • ◊ • ˚ °

The car ride home had been a silent and awkward one. Every time Sephiroth would try to start a conversation with his son, Roxas would respond with a harsh, "I don't want to talk to you." Sephiroth quickly gave up, fully aware that his son meant it. Olette rode in the backseat while Roxas sat in the passenger's seat next to his silver-haired father. This didn't exactly help out the situation. The tension in the front was so thick Olette could practically see it. After what was too long of a time, Sephiroth finally drove into their neighborhood. They were finally back in Twilight Town. He pulled up and stopped by the sidewalk, parking the car in between both their houses. Roxas jumped out of the car right as soon as it stopped and slammed the door shut. Olette exited the car with a bit more grace, making sure not to let the noise of the door shutting echo throughout the entire neighborhood.

"Bye, Roxas," Sephiroth called through the opened window of the passenger's side. "I'll see you and your mother at the wedding, right?"

Roxas only responded by shooting his father a glare over his shoulder. Nevertheless, Sephiroth smiled widely back at his son. Without waiting for so much as a goodbye out of his son, Sephiroth burned rubber down the road and headed back to Traverse Town. Finding it too awkward to look at Roxas, Olette decided to direct her gaze to the pitch-black sky above while folding her arms behind her back. She wasn't sure what she was waiting for. Maybe for Roxas to start divulging how he felt. Maybe a few waterworks. Maybe an apology from him for wasting her entire day for nothing. Instead, all she got was some silence.

"Goodnight," Roxas whispered gruffly as he turned and headed towards his house.

Olette stared after him, finding herself unable to become upset at the boy. She thought she had issues with her family, but she discovered that they were nothing compared to Roxas'. She wanted to say something to make him feel better, even if she couldn't stand the blond boy that she swore was evil in the living flesh. So instead, she kept quiet.

"Goodnight," came her lame response as she turned towards her own house. She ambled slowly down the sidewalk until Roxas' voice stopped her momentarily.

"Gainsborough," he said with his back turned to her, stopping in his own tracks as well. "Really. Thank you." There was a pause as Olette lifted her head, but didn't turn to face the boy. "I might not have been able to do this without you."

Roxas hurried off before Olette had a chance to respond. She heard the sound of his footsteps climbing his porch stairs. There was the sound of his front door opening, and then it clicking shut. The green-eyed brunette stood in the middle of the sidewalk, surrounded by the shadows of the night, as she let the words that came out of Roxas' mouth sink in. Had he actually thanked her _twice_ in _one day_? If that wasn't a sure sign of the end of the world, then she wasn't sure what was.

"No," she giggled to herself as her cheeks tinted pink. "Thank you, Nohart."

Olette cut across her lawn and quietly approached her front door. If she were lucky, no one in her household should have noticed her absence all day. She tried opening the door without making as much noise as possible. The brunette quietly slipped through the door and gently closed it shut. She sighed to herself, feeling a bit victorious, as she slowly turned around so she could ascend upstairs and crawl into bed. Olette never got the chance to do so, however. As soon as she turned around, she was greeted with the worried face of her stepmother and the furious face of her father.

"Where the bloody hell were you, young lady?" Luxord bellowed as his face turned red from annoyed anger.

"Where did you go, Olette?" Aerith gasped, her forest green eyes widened in complete worry. "Why were you gone so long?"

Olette grinned irritatingly to herself, her eyebrow twitching as she closed her eyes so as to not look into her parents' faces. Both Luxord and Aerith raised their voices when their daughter didn't respond, assuming she merely didn't hear their slew of questions they were throwing at her. If anyone was mad, it was Olette.

_Yeah. Really. Thanks a lot, Nohart!_


	10. The Sleepover From Hell

**A/N – Edited 7/26/09. The Christmas and Valentine ideas were scrapped for this chapter when the writer realized she sucked and couldn't come up with anything for those previous ideas. Apologies on the horrible updating. This chapter was originally intended to come out in April until the writer became distracted. The writer admits she sucks at life. Had some help from DarexToxDream, who was kind enough to give the writer some ideas.**

° ˚ • ◊ • ˚ °

**C** h **a** p **t** e **r** T **e** n

**The**Sleepover**From**Hell

Ever had the feeling of emanate doom fall upon you suddenly, completely washing over you unexpectedly? Olette had, and it was not the most pleasant feeling in the world. She was lying on her bed, staring intently up at the cracks in the ceiling. The day was going by much too slowly for her. The girl had finished up her homework early, as she usually did, and she wasn't in the mood to log onto her computer. So instead, she lay on her bed and waited for something interesting to take place. That was when it happened. Suddenly, a churning feeling developed in the pit of her stomach, warning her of something terrible taking place. She shot straight up on her bed and glanced around as she tried to decipher the feeling in her stomach. Olette narrowed her green eyes, fully aware of what her stomach was warning her of.

Roxas.

She jumped off her bed and hurried silently through her bedroom door out into the hallway. Downstairs, she could hear Aerith's voice floating up to the second story of her house. Olette ambled over to the banister and leaned over it, peering downstairs and trying to glimpse into the kitchen where Aerith's voice was coming from. Along with her stepmother's voice, there was an audible second one, a voice that was vaguely familiar to Olette. She tilted her head to one side upon realizing the second voice belonged to Roxas' mother, Larxene. Curious as to why the blonde woman had come over, Olette quietly made her way downstairs and continued eavesdropping.

"So, I have to go out of town next week," Larxene began, "and I know it might be burdensome of me to ask, but I was wondering if you could do me a favor."

Olette pinned her back against the wall and carefully peered into the kitchen from where she hid next to the archway. She saw Larxene sitting at the kitchen table with Aerith sitting directly across from her, both of the women holding onto glasses of drinks. As usual, Aerith sat neatly in her seat with a perfect and hospitable smile set upon her face. Larxene also looked friendly, but with a sort of sharpness toned into her features. How the two women, who were practically complete opposites of each other, had become friends, Olette was most likely never going to find the answer to.

"Of course I can!" Aerith chimed, her smile growing brighter. "It's no trouble at all. What do you need, Larxene?"

Larxene's dull eyes flickered down to her glass, almost like the woman was embarrassed to ask. "Well, I can't take Roxas with me next week."

The uncomfortable churning returned to Olette's stomach, like a sort of "spidey-sense" was warning her to make a run for it before it was too late. But she was foolishly curious and decided to stay to see where things were going. However, if they involved Roxas, it was never a good thing. Nevertheless, she waited for the words to leave the blonde woman's mouth.

Larxene went on to say, "And I'd rather not leave him home alone for an entire week. I was wondering if it would be possible for him to stay over here with you for the week, just so I know he's alright."

Olette's jaw instantly went slack and fell open, her emerald irises widening in absolute horror at the request. Him, stay over? For an entire week? The thought alone was enough to make the poor brunette cringe in disgust. Surely, Aerith knew how much Olette couldn't stand the spiky-haired blond. If she was lucky at all, her stepmother was going to kindly decline the offer for the sake of Olette.

Then again, Olette wasn't exactly the luckiest teenaged girl in Twilight Town.

_Crap…!_

Aerith beamed again for Larxene, even tilting her head to one side as a friendly gesture. "Why, of course Roxas can stay with us! It's perfectly fine, seeing as how he and Olette are good friends."

Olette's eye twitched violently upon hearing the words that came out of Aerith's mouth. A sort of outraged and horrified expression exploded onto her face, staring at her stepmother like she was deranged. It was probably the most obvious thing in the world that she couldn't stand Roxas at all. Maybe the fact that Aerith was a little on the oblivious side was why she didn't catch on to this. She had to do something to prevent this travesty from taking place. After all, the last thing she wanted to do was deal with the asshole for an entire week. Olette rushed into the kitchen, the panic still vividly stricken across her face. Aerith and Larxene glanced up from their conversation and stared back at the girl, both women slightly surprised by her sudden arrival.

"No way!" the girl shouted when nothing more intelligent came to mind.

"Oh, Olette," Aerith greeted, still smiling. "There you are. Guess what? Larxene asked if it was alright for Roxas to stay a week since she's going out of town."

"Y-You don't say," Olette tittered. Suddenly, she found it difficult to beg her stepmother not to let Roxas stay, especially since his own mother was sitting right in front of her.

"Is it alright with you?" Larxene asked the brunette girl. "I have no one else to ask because I don't know many people in this town." She then turned to face Aerith again. "You're pretty much the only friend I've made so far, Aerith."

Olette inwardly groaned, now finding it impossible to inform Larxene that her son was not wanted in her house. And if Aerith was the one making the decision, Luxord was going to have to agree to it, as much as he despised the teenaged boy. If there was one thing Luxord could _not_ do, it was argue against Aerith's every decision. He was weak willed when it came to his wife.

"That's…" Olette's forced grin faltered, finding it increasingly difficult to pretend she had no problem with it. Larxene glanced back up at her, a tiny smile playing on her lips. Something told Olette the blonde woman was perfectly aware of the hatred between her and Roxas, and she secretly enjoyed torturing the poor brunette girl like the sadistic woman she was. "That's perfectly fine with me, Miss Nohart." The girl forced the smile again, grinning from ear to ear. Every muscle in her face hurt just from forcing it.

Larxene smiled for the girl, lacing her fingers together. "That's good to hear." She turned back to Aerith, and Olette cursed the woman in the safe depths of her mind. "I'm leaving in the morning on Monday, so Roxas will arrive in the afternoon after school." The woman shot Olette a side-glance. "With you, actually."

Once again, Olette forced the best enthusiastic smile she could. Doing so, however, only caused her eye to twitch involuntarily. She chuckled through tightly gritted teeth, "Oh, goody."

° ˚ • ◊ • ˚ °

The Monday her life was officially over, Olette left her house to the sound of her father protesting Roxas' arrival. Just as she had expected, when Aerith informed Luxord about how Roxas was going to spend a week with them her father instantly argued against the idea. Ever since the Halloween incident, he wasn't exactly fond of the teenaged boy. Olette couldn't blame him. She wasn't either. But, like she had also expected, Aerith quickly convinced him that there was no other choice and the boy was coming over whether he liked it or not. In the end, Luxord decided to agree with Aerith and only ended up grumbling to himself about how he didn't like that "the little hoodlum" would be living with them for a week.

Olette stormed into the school, fuming over the idea of how no one was even remotely concerned about how she felt. What did it matter anyway? If Luxord couldn't change Aerith's mind, then Olette sure as hell couldn't convince her otherwise. It was almost like every student in Dusk High knew that the brunette was in no mood to be messed with and stayed out of her way. She stomped up to her locker and yanked out everything she needed, stuffing it violently into her backpack. When she was finished she trudged off towards her homeroom, swearing loudly to herself.

Leon glanced up from his desk when Olette walked in, still cursing above whispering level. He hitched up an eyebrow as he watched the infuriated brunette make her way over to her desk, instantly assuming it was merely PMS. She plopped down into her seat behind the very blond she was cursing. A cold shiver traveled up and down Roxas' spine, and he instantly knew that Olette was sitting behind him while drilling a death glare into the back of his head. Inwardly, he sighed and questioned why she sat behind him if she couldn't stand him. Her logic made absolutely no sense to him.

"I know you're glaring at me," he sighed loudly, not even casting her a glance over his shoulder.

Olette only growled, balling up her hands into fists. Roxas turned halfway in his seat to face her, wincing back slightly when he saw the clear anger etched into her face. The girl looked like she was ready to strangle somebody, mainly him. The people who were filing into the room were conscious of the hatred radiating from Olette, and made sure to stay as far away from her as possible. Even Hayner and Pence sat a good distance away from her when they walked in, deciding to let Roxas deal with her wrath alone.

"Hey, I'm not happy about having to stay at your place either," Roxas, argued with a pout.

Growling, Olette hissed, "If you so much as make my life a living hell this week—"

"You mean more than I already do?" the blond boy teased, smirking with an overconfident attitude.

"You forget," she growled. "You're coming into _my_ house. _My_ territory. I already have an advantage over you!"

"What is this, war?" he scoffed, swiveling back around in his seat.

Olette leaned over her desk, rested her elbow on her desktop, and held her chin in her hand. Smiling devilishly, she leaned forward and whispered into his ear. "Not only that, but you'll have to deal with my dad." Roxas completely froze when these words left Olette's lips, as if he had just realized this or something. "For an _entire_ week."

As she pulled away from him, she quickly caught him hissing a very inappropriate word, which earned him a warning look from Leon. Just when she thought she had won this pointless argument, Roxas glimpsed back at her from over his shoulder, smirking yet again.

"Even then, I can deal with it," Roxas snickered, the mischievous glint returning to his eyes. "Don't forget, I make a hobby out of torturing you." He then turned back around and said loudly enough for her to hear him, "And for a whole week, I'll be close enough to you to annoy the living crap out of you." She almost heard the impish smirk crawl onto his face as he added, "Maybe even embarrass you."

"Don't _you_ forget," Olette hissed venomously as Leon began taking roll call, leaning forward again to snap directly into Roxas' ear, "you're going to be in my house under the watchful eye of my dad. As far as I'm concerned, you've already lost!"

Roxas snorted, his lips curved up into an amused smirk. "Then you don't know me as well as I thought you did," he whispered.

"Olette Gainsborough?" Leon droned, even though he knew the girl had arrived to his class.

"HERE!" she shouted much more loudly than she had intended, causing several students in her homeroom class to yelp in fear.

The brunette sat back in her seat, glaring at Roxas the entire time. One week wouldn't be so bad. It was only five days… Approximately one hundred and twenty hours… She could handle one hundred and twenty hours of Roxas. Nothing but Roxas. Every morning, afternoon, evening, and night of Roxas. Groaning, she allowed her head to fall to her desk and slammed it against her desktop.

She was going to need the energy of an ADHD juvenile to handle five entire days of Roxas.

° ˚ • ◊ • ˚ °

When the final bell of the day rang, Olette shot out of her seat and hurried out of the school. She didn't so much as wait to say goodbye to her friends, desperate to leave before Roxas had a chance to catch up to her. The brunette sophomore dashed up to her locker and yanked it open, instantly stuffing the contents of her backpack into her locker. The quicker she was, the more likely she was to leave the premises without Roxas, which had been her intention in the first place. Smirking victoriously, Olette slammed her locker shut and prepared to make a mad run for it to the exit. However, she yelped upon closing her locker, caught off guard by Roxas' sudden appearance. The blond boy remained leaning casually against the row of lockers, smirking down at Olette when she reacted by screaming in surprise.

"If I didn't know any better," he snickered as Olette tried to regain normal breathing patterns, "I'd say you were trying to leave without me."

She shot him a dark glare as her only response, finding it useless to deny his accusation when it was completely true. Olette only huffed and spun around on her heels, turning her back to Roxas. Without so much as a command, she marched off down the hallway with the spiky-haired blond trailing obediently behind her. They hadn't even reached her house yet, and already he was taking the time to torment the girl. By the time they were making their way down the sidewalk with Olette's home as their destination, Roxas was already antagonizing her by purposely stepping on the back of her shoes. Olette whirled around and glared up at him, which caused him to skid to a sudden halt.

"Could you _at least_ wait until we get to my house to torture me?" she hissed through her teeth, narrowing her eyes.

Roxas returned her glare with a playful smirk and pointed at a building directly behind Olette. "We _are_ at your house."

Bewildered, she followed the trail of his finger. Just as Roxas had informed, the two of them arrived at her house sooner than she expected. As Olette remained frozen in the middle of the sidewalk, Roxas brushed past her and strutted up to her front door, shooting her another smirk as he hurried past her. They both entered into her home, and were immediately greeted by Aerith. Before Olette even had a chance to shut the door behind her, Aerith came gliding out of the living room and into the main hallway of the house. She smiled down at the two teenagers, radiating with so much enthusiasm it almost made Olette vomit.

"Welcome home, Olette!" Aerith chimed. Olette's response was a roll of her green eyes, which went unnoticed by her stepmother. "And you too, Roxas. You don't mind having to stay with us for a week, do you?"

Roxas grinned back up at Aerith, but Olette caught the hint of a mischievous smirk lingering on his face that her stepmother didn't seem to catch. "Not at all, Mrs. Gainsborough." He then directed his smirk from the brunette woman to Olette, causing the girl to frown back at him. "It'll be fun."

Aerith clasped her hands together. "I'm glad to hear this!" she giggled before retreating back into the living room.

"I'd sleep with one eye open if I were you," Olette warned when she was certain her stepmother was out of earshot.

"You better be prepared, too," Roxas snickered. "I've saved some of my best pranks for this week."

"Just remember," she snapped in an undertone. "You're in my house now, living under the same roof as my dad."

"What Daddy doesn't know won't kill him," Roxas responded with an impish smile, heading into the kitchen to leave Olette alone in the hallway. The brunette stood alone momentarily, fuming as she tried to calm her rattled nerves. Her stepmother had warned her the night before that it was best if she behaved and tried to act civilized with the demonic blonde to the best of her abilities. Seeing as how it was Aerith that requested this, the least Olette could do was _try_. But Roxas was making it increasingly difficult. The mischievous tone in his voice didn't help out much, either.

She made her way into the kitchen, simply to see if Roxas had already beaten her to the food residing in her fridge. Instead, she was met with the sight of Roxas sitting at the island in the middle of her kitchen while conversing with Zexion. Her younger brother stood across the island from Roxas, leaned over it with excitement clearly noticeable on his face.

"Cool," Zexion breathed. "I always wanted an older brother! Instead, I got Olette." Upon saying this, Zexion directed his attention to the previously mentioned brunette girl when he noticed her arrival and stuck his tongue out at her. Olette responded with an icy stare.

"Trust me, Zexion," Roxas laughed as he leaned back in his chair. Peering up at Olette, he teased, "Anyone is better than _your_ sister."

"I'm gonna smack that grin off your face," Olette warned through tightly gritted teeth, the corners of her lips twitching up into a strained smile.

Zexion ignored the threats coming from his sister as he went on to say, "You can room with me, Roxas! Besides, I don't think Dad will let you sleep in Olette's room."

"I wouldn't let him sleep in my room even if he was allowed!" she snarled loudly.

"She secretly would, though," Roxas sighed casually with a shrug of his shoulders. He winked up at her before adding, "That would be her sick plan to somehow secretly watch me strip again."

Red splashed across Olette's face as she shrilled, "That's not true, and I wouldn't enjoy it anyway!"

Before Olette had the chance to instigate another argument between them, Aerith glided into the room with her usual bright smile. She stepped between the two angered teenagers, flashing a smile back and forth between Roxas and Olette.

"What's all the commotion in here?" Aerith sang, even though she already knew the answer.

"Olette's trying to kill Roxas," Zexion accused from the other side of the island. Speaking up earned him a frazzled look out of Olette.

She turned back to face her mother and quickly denied with a nervous chuckle laced into her voice, "N-No, I'm not! I already told you I would be well-behaved during this week." Just to be safe, Olette forced an extra large smile for her brunette stepmother.

Aerith's smile grew a bit more in size, glimpsing warmly down at her stepdaughter. "That's good to hear. Because you know I'd be utterly disappointed if you weren't able to act mature and well-behaved with Roxas over."

Giggling, Aerith skipped out of the room, leaving Olette behind as the girl groaned loudly and hung her head. Roxas, on the other hand, could only smirk in triumphant victory.

He hadn't been over for even an hour, and already he was winning the fight.

° ˚ • ◊ • ˚ °

Then came dinner time. The table was unusually quiet, and a thick blanket of unnerving tension hung over the four family members and one guest as none of them dared to say a word. Roxas sat uncomfortably in his chair, staring absentmindedly down at the plate of food Aerith had prepared for him. Every so often, he poked the food with his fork. The blond didn't even bother glancing up once in a while, because he knew that Luxord was glaring him down from across the table. Olette's father sat at one end of the table, his eyes narrowed as he kept his dark glare steady on Roxas. Olette sat in her own chair, unable to relish the scene because even it was too awkward for her. The only one oblivious to all the hatred floating about the table was Aerith, who was much too busy smiling and humming happily to herself.

"So, how was school today?" Aerith questioned when she could no longer take the silence.

Zexion glowered down at his plate, suddenly narrowing his eyes when the question was asked. "I got in trouble today for hiding out in the girls' locker room with a video camera."

Aerith blinked for a moment as her smile faltered. She turned to her son and asked, "What?"

"So, Roxas," Luxord interrupted, much to Zexion's relief. "Get anyone's daughter drunk lately?"

Roxas could only send Luxord an embarrassed smile when he found himself unable to respond. Aerith looked away from Zexion and frowned up at her husband, pouting for the first time since the blond boy moved in.

"Now, Luxord!" she scolded. "He's a guest, so I expect you to treat him like one! Don't ask impolite questions."

"Um… This is good food, Mrs. Gainsborough," Roxas complimented as he finally shoved the food into his mouth. "You're a good cook."

Aerith beamed out of flattery. "Oh, why thank you, Roxas!" She whirled back around and sent Luxord a warning look, causing the man to flinch. "At least someone notices."

Olette growled while shoving a forkful of food into her mouth, glaring back and forth between Roxas and her mother. Somehow, the blond teenaged boy had managed to turn the tables and forced Luxord's wrath away from him by causing her stepmother to become angered with her father. It was genius, and it was completely unfair. There simply was no justice in this life.

Knowing he was defeated for the time being, Luxord hung his head and ate his food quietly. The silence returned to the table, thickening the tension once again. Olette's fork clanked loudly against her plate when she threw it down. She sprang out of her chair so quickly she almost sent it tumbling to the floor.

Looking tiredly at her stepmother, she announced loudly, "I'm full, Aerith. I'll be in my room." The green-eyed brunette bolted out of the room before anyone of them had the chance to stop her. Aerith gawked after the girl along with Roxas, both surprised by her sudden change in mood.

Aerith didn't think long on Olette's attitude, because she then quickly switched over to another matter. Frowning, she glanced back at Zexion. This earned her the boy's full and undivided attention.

"Now, what's this about the girls' locker room?" Aerith inquired sternly, the smile stripped completely away from her face.

Zexion also jumped quickly out of his chair, looking frantically back at Roxas. "Come on, buddy! I'll show you my room!" With that said, Zexion grabbed Roxas by his wrist and dragged him out of the living room, leaving both parents alone at the table.

"I thought two teenagers were bad enough," Luxord complained under his breath, poking his food as he did so. "Now I have to deal with three?"

° ˚ • ◊ • ˚ °

That night, Olette slipped under the covers of her bed, completely wiped out and tired. It had been a long day, and Roxas didn't make it easy for her. Nope, as soon as they got into her house he wreaked hell on her. Not even the presence of her father nearby intimidated the blond. He went right on with his pranks, especially when neither of her parents were looking. To make matters worse, Roxas had included Zexion in on his evil plans. So now she had _two_ boys pulling pranks on her every chance they got.

The girl huffed loudly and closed her eyes. Oh, well. Just four more days to go before her house was once again Roxas-free. Sighing loudly, she flipped over onto her other side and tried to fall asleep. However, something at the other end of her bed was irritating her. There was something underneath her blanket near her feet. Curious, she kicked the covers aside and looked to see what was bothering her feet. Olette screamed and tumbled out of her bed when her investigation led her to the conclusion that there was a large spider in her bed. As soon as she hit the floor, she heard loud laughter dance in the air all around her. She growled and glared over at her doorway, where Roxas was currently leaning against while laughing his evil-minded butt off.

"Very funny, Nohart!" Olette hissed as she grabbed the rubber spider off her bed and chucked it at him. "Putting a rubber spider in my bed. Because _that's_ not immature!"

"You should have seen the look on your face!" Roxas chortled as he held his sides in an attempt to keep them from splitting open from all the laughing he was doing. "Classic!"

Roxas' laughter was short-lived, however, because that was when Olette's father decided to pay them a visit. The cackling caught in the middle of the boy's throat, cutting off. His blue orbs slowly trailed up to the looming figure of Luxord, who was glaring down at Roxas with narrowed eyes. Roxas flashed the irritated father an anxious grin as he slowly backed away from Olette's doorway. This, however, did not ward Luxord away.

"What the hell do you think you're doing in Olette's room _at night_?" her father demanded loudly, causing Roxas to flinch in nervousness.

The entire time, Olette watched from her spot on the floor while smirking. That is, however, until her wicked smile fell only to be replaced with a displeased frown.

"Ew, don't imply things like _that_, Dad!" she gagged. The very thought caused her stomach to churn in disgust.

Roxas' face contorted into his own expression of repugnance. Sticking out his tongue and forcing a gagging noise, he claimed, "Trust me, that's _not_ the reason why I'm here. Nor would it ever be."

A hint of fury flashed across Luxord's dull eyes. Roxas winced while still under the man's gaze, catching the rage that flickered across his eyes.

"SO NOW YOU'RE SAYING MY DAUGHTER ISN'T SEXY ENOUGH FOR YOU?" Luxord roared with angry fire blazing in his eyes.

Roxas yelled and stumbled back, almost toppling to the floor. He managed to save himself, though, by landing on the palms of his hands. The boy sprang himself back to his feet and hurried down the hallway as fast as his own two feet could take him as Luxord advanced angrily towards the boy at a leisurely pace. Before Luxord had the chance to pounce Roxas and beat the living crap out of him, Roxas speed down the hallway and dashed into Zexion's room. He slammed the door shut, cutting himself off from both Olette and her father.

Luxord scoffed, wearing a clearly visible frown on his aging face. "Isn't even man enough to strip my daughter of her virgin innocence."

He stomped off with Olette gawking at his back with widened eyes and her jaw hanging off its hinges. "Are you even listening to yourself, Dad?" she squawked with a dark blush overtaking her face.

But just in case the thought passed the boy's mind, she made sure to lock her bedroom door that night.

° ˚ • ◊ • ˚ °

_Just two more days, not counting today_.

Olette sighed heavily as she closed her eyes, standing under the running water of her shower. It was only Wednesday by now, the week moving much too slow for her. She wanted Roxas out of her house as soon as possible. Unfortunately for her, she'd have to wait until Saturday. So until then, she was stuck living under the same roof as him for two more days. Tired from the school day and the constant pranks the demonic blond pulled on her upon returning home, she decided to hop into the shower that evening and relax her aching muscles and jittery mind. Olette frowned and glared at the tiles on the walls encasing her in the tiny space that consisted of the bathtub. The shower wasn't helping. Even with the warm water cascading down on her like that of the rain or the thick plumes of steam building up inside the bathroom, the agony of the realization that she was still stuck with Roxas refused to leave her exhausted fifteen-year-old body.

Once she thought she had wasted enough water, Olette twisted the knob sticking out of the wall and shut the water off. She wrung her hair dry before pulling back the curtains and stepping out of the shower, making sure not to slip. The brunette pulled one plush towel off the rack and ran it over her hair before draping it over her exposed body. She then began to dry herself before a horrid realization dawned on her.

Olette forgot to bring extra clothes with her into the bathroom.

The green-eyed girl stood frozen in the middle of the bathroom, staring at the closed toilet where she would have kept the extra pair of clothing had she remember to bring it in with her. This called for her making a mad dash for her room to get dressed before anyone saw her. There was just one problem with this. And that problem had spiked blond hair, blue eyes, and was male.

"Dammit. Nohart," she hissed under her breath as she clutched tighter onto the towel.

This situation wouldn't have been as embarrassing if Roxas weren't currently in the household. Olette held onto the towel and tried to come up with any sort of solution as her cheeks began to redden darkly, and it was not because of the steam or hot water.

Maybe he wasn't upstairs. That would have made it easier for her to make it to her room. Or even better, maybe he wasn't even in the house. If she was lucky, Roxas might have stepped outside while she was taking a shower. The only problem was Olette wasn't lucky. At all. She groaned and craned her head back so as to stare pleadingly at the ceiling. All she had to do was run like hell to her room. That was it. If her horribly concocted plan succeeded, then she would have made it before Roxas had the chance to spot her semi-naked. Breathing in loudly, Olette's arm shot out and she grasped the doorknob. Preparing herself to make a run for her room, the teenaged girl yanked the door open all the way.

"Hurry up! I need to use the bath—"

Both Roxas and Olette froze and blinked at each other, the blond boy stopping in the middle of his sentence. Olette's mouth twitched up into a disbelieved grin, unable to believe that Roxas was on the other side of the door right at the exact moment she decided to burst from the bathroom. Roxas yelped in shock and took a step back, unable to pry his eyes away from Olette. He had gone upstairs to use the bathroom when nature began calling. Instead of getting to use the toilet, he got to see Olette barge out of the bathroom wearing nothing more than a towel, dripping from head to toe. His face burned bright red as soon as she slammed the door open and his eyes landed on her. When rage took over Olette and dominated the awkwardness that she felt, her embarrassed smile faded away and turned into a frenzied scowl, teeth tightly clenched.

"Nohart…"

"I-I didn't see anything!" Roxas tried defending as he shielded his colored face with his arm. "I swear!"

"You—" Olette finally stepped out of the doorway of the bathroom, making sure to hold the towel up. As she stood directly in front of the embarrassed boy, she brought her arm back and held it in the air, her hand clenched up into a fist. She then brought it forward with as much strength as she could muster, slamming her fist directly into Roxas' face. "—PERVERT!"

The force of Olette's punch actually caused Roxas to fly back. He tripped over his own two feet as he stumbled backwards towards the stairs that led down to the first floor. Roxas' feet slipped down the first step leading down, and he yelped as he tumbled down each step, making a loud thud every time he fell onto each step. Olette watched, seething, as the boy continued down the stairs with each painful fall. Finally, Roxas landed at the bottom of the stairs, sprawled out and groaning in pain. He had landed on his back, allowing him to stare back up at Olette with lidded eyes.

"You indecent letch!" Olette snapped as she stuck out her tongue before spinning around and hurrying to her room, slamming the door shut upon entering.

Roxas groaned, stilling lying on his back with his feet propped up on the stairs. It was a miracle he didn't die while on his way down. Trying to move only caused him tinges of pain, and he groaned again and decided to stay where he was for a while. His first time seeing a naked girl, and she punched him.

"I saw… everything…"

° ˚ • ◊ • ˚ °

Olette stared grimly at the plate of food she held firmly in her hands, resting the plate right on her lap. The breeze blew over the fuming girl, going unnoticed by the brunette. Students passed by as they hurried to their destination, not paying any mind to Olette. She sat alone at the bench in hopes of enjoying her lunch in peace. Being in the current mood she was in, she found it best not to eat with the rest of her group just in case she blew up at any moment. Though it was finally Friday, Olette wasn't sure she could take any more of Roxas. The entire week had been nothing more than hellish torture for the poor girl, knocking off at least ten years of her life. Tomorrow, she kept reminding herself, was the day she'd finally be rid of the demonic blond. That day was the day she could not wait for.

Unfortunately, Friday seemed to go by excruciatingly slow.

Sighing, Olette's emerald green eyes drooped tiredly as she began poking at her food. Her moment of peace was interrupted by the familiar shrill voice of Selphie.

"Found her!" the chestnut-haired girl sang from somewhere in the distance.

Olette's head perked up and she looked around for the source of the voice. Her eyes landed on three figures hurrying towards her a ways down the concrete path her bench resided beside. She groaned, sitting outside for lunch because she wanted to be _alone_. Kairi, Yuffie, and Selphie approached the brunette on the bench, Selphie skipping up and plopping herself down beside Olette on the bench. Olette's expression turned sour, making it vivid that her friends' arrival was more annoying than comforting.

"We were wondering where you were!" Selphie giggled as she stole a piece of food off Olette's plate and stuck it in her mouth. "Why are you sitting outside?"

"To let off some steam," Olette informed through clenched teeth, squeezing her eyes shut to prevent herself from glaring at the chestnut-haired girl as she stole some of her food again.

"Uh oh." At the mention of this, both Kairi and Yuffie sat themselves down on the bench, Kairi taking her seat on Selphie's other side and Yuffie sitting in the empty spot next to Olette. Kairi leaned outward so as to peer around Selphie at the green-eyed brunette, inquiring, "What are you upset about now?"

Olette snatched some food off her plate just as Selphie was reaching for it, glaring at the disheartened girl out of the corner of her eye as she shoved it into her mouth and began chewing roughly. "Nothing."

Kairi had opened her mouth to retaliate, but was cut off when Tifa suddenly popped her head up from behind the bench.

"Well, if it isn't my favorite sophomore, Olette!" Tifa laughed as she leaned forward on the bench and peered over its backboard with her arm slung over it, getting a glimpse at Olette's frowning face.

Selphie yelped and tumbled off the bench, immediately recognizing the dark brunette girl all the harsh rumors revolved around. Kairi gasped at the sight of the senior girl and inched farther away from Olette on the bench, her enlarged cobalt eyes glued to Tifa. Yuffie was the only one of Olette's three friends who grinned up at Tifa toothily and greeted,

"Oh! Hey, Tifa!"

Tifa's crimson eyes flickered away from the frown she was scanning on Olette's face and drifted over to Yuffie's smiling face. She returned the raven-haired girl's welcoming grin with a friendly smile of her own.

"How's it going, Yuffie?" Tifa asked, getting up off her knees and standing at her full height now. Yuffie patted the empty spot on the bench beside her, gesturing for Tifa to take a seat. The girl walked her way around the bench and fell into the empty spot next to the junior girl, making herself comfortable.

"Y-You know her, Yuffie?" Selphie squeaked from the ground, her widened olive green eyes darting over to the energetic junior.

"Tifa?" Oh, yeah! Me and her go way back!" Yuffie laughed as she slapped Tifa on the back, earning a chuckle out of the tall brunette.

"What's the matter?" Tifa teased, looking back and forth between the trembling chestnut-haired girl and the quivering redhead. "Scared?"

Both shook their heads quickly as a response, their hair slapping them in the face. Selphie slowly crawled her way back onto the bench, sitting in between Olette and Kairi, both girls still too frightened to respond properly.

Laughing, Yuffie assured, "Don't worry, you two! Tifa's harmless, I promise!"

"Those darn rumors," Tifa sighed dramatically, placing her hand against her forehead as she mimicked a soap opera star as a joke. Yuffie was the only one who laughed, Olette still too peeved to care and both Kairi and Selphie still too scared to form words. "It's because of them that everyone is afraid of me." She placed her hand down and smiled at Yuffie and Olette. "But not you two! I thought it was you, Olette, sitting all by yourself on this bench."

Olette's eyes narrowed as she kept her eyesight forward on the path that lay before her. "I _was_ alone."

Kairi looked around Selphie to glimpse at Tifa. When she had finally decided that the girl really was harmless like Yuffie had informed, the redhead said to the tall brunette senior girl, "We were just trying to figure out what's wrong with Olette."

Tifa's lips curved up into a crooked smirk, her red eyes trailing away from Kairi and over to Olette. "It's that blond kid, isn't it?"

Yuffie snapped her head around and stared up at Tifa, her face turning blank. "Roxas?"

Selphie's once frightened expression turned mischievous, a bad omen Olette had come to recognize. Leaning forward towards the brunette, Selphie clutched onto Olette's arm and giggled wickedly, "Ooh! Is it Roxas? Is it, is it, is it?

"Of course it is!" Olette snapped, nudging her arm in hopes of unlatching Selphie from her right limb. It was too bad Selphie had claw-like fingers that were practically impossible to remove. "I've had to deal with him for an entire week! It's bad enough to have to deal with him at school and as my next door neighbor, but he's been living in my house all this week, making my life a hundred times more miserable."

Olette huffed and crossed her arm, slumping further down in her seat. She narrowed her green eyes and glared ahead, avoiding eye contact with the other four girls. Selphie and Kairi blinked, processing the words that had come out of their friend's mouth. Yuffie and Tifa only stared, practically able to see the rays of angered hatred radiating off Olette. Silence had fallen over the five girls when nobody spoke up to say anything, the awkward quietness ensuing for a few minutes. After several moments of nothing but silence, Selphie's blank face broke out into a devilish smirk. Kairi also smiled in an impish manner, both girls now leaning forward towards their brunette friend. Olette jumped when she noticed their odd behavior, and only flinched more when Yuffie and Tifa leaned forward as well with smirks on both their faces.

"You mean to say," Selphie whispered, the mischievous tone uncomfortably obvious in her voice, "that Roxas has been living under the same roof as you? For this _whole_ week?"

Olette flinched away from Selphie, holding her arm up in front of her as a sort of pathetic shield from the smirking girl. The vibes she was receiving from all four of the girls warned her to make a desperate run for it, to save herself from the impending doom that was approaching her. The smirks the four other females were sending her were uncomfortable, letting her in on the conspiracy they were all planning against her. Despite the warnings she was receiving, despite the bad feeling that had begun to bubble up in the pit of her churning stomach, Olette remained trapped where she was on the bench.

"Y-Yeah…" she stammered, keeping a cautious eye on Selphie. "But… what does that have to do with—?"

"And you didn't tell us once?" Selphie suddenly barked, throwing her arms up in the air with a huff.

"You can't blame her, Selphie," Kairi snickered. "She just wanted to keep Roxas all to herself."

Olette's jaw instantly dropped upon hearing these words, her face converting from her cautious look to an expression of disapproving outrage. She flinched back when Kairi's comment spewed out of her mouth, making an indignant sound. The brunette whirled around and glared at Tifa and Yuffie, pleading for them to back her up with her widened green eyes. However, instead the two only smirked back at Olette and nodded their heads in agreement with Kairi. Olette jumped off the bench in rage, sending her plate of food soaring through the air. Selphie watched the plate in anguish as it crashed to the ground and sent all the food splattering across the sidewalk.

"Y-You think I actually enjoyed having Roxas in my house?" Olette squawked rhetorically. Even then, the other four girls answered her rhetorical question by nodding their heads. Face burning bright red, she shook her head quickly and denied, "No! That's not true at all! I hate having him live in my house with me! I hate _him_!"

"Is Roxas leaving today?" Yuffie asked randomly. The smirk still remained firm on her face, directed up at the flushed brunette."

"No," Olette frantically answered. "But that's not the point! I'm telling the truth! Believe me when I say I can't stand him being under the same roof as me and I can't wait for him to go back home!"

Before the four of them had any more chances to make more accusations, Olette spun on the heels of her feet and dashed off. She hurried away out of sight, leaving her four friends to remain seated on the bench. Selphie's hand shot to her mouth, snickering into the palm of her hand. Kairi cast the snickering girl a side-glance, her mouth forming an O shape upon hearing the maniacal giggling. When she realized the redhead was staring down at her quizzically, Selphie simpered up at her. She leaned forward and whispered something in Kairi's ear, her hand cupped around the ear. Kairi's expression was at first curious, but the look slowly dissolved away as the corner's of her mouth tugged upward into a coy smirk.

"That's not a bad idea," the redheaded girl snickered, glimpsing down at Selphie to meet her smirk with an impish smile of her own.

"What?" Yuffie tilted her head, her dark eyes brimming with fascinated curiosity. Selphie leaned in towards her and also whispered her scheme in Yuffie's ear, causing her intrigued countenance to turn into a playful smirk.

Tifa looked back and forth between the three girls, finding herself also eager to know what was the plan both Selphie and Kairi were devising. "What's the conspiracy?" she asked when Selphie pulled away from Yuffie's ear.

Glancing back at Tifa with her dull blue eyes, Kairi smiled mischievously and questioned, "Have you ever gone over to Olette's house before, Miss Tifa?"

Her brows knitted together in confusion, but Tifa shook her head nonetheless as an answer for the redhead's seemingly random question. Yuffie swirled around in her seat to face the senior girl, her lips turned upward in a smirk that matched the other two girls' devilish grins.

"How would you like to go today?" she snickered, revealing her white teeth to the brunette because of her wide smirk.

At first, Tifa merely blinked down at Yuffie as she processed the request in her mind. The girls' scheme seemed odd, and Yuffie's question came off as arbitrary and pointless. The situation was vague at first, and Tifa found herself slightly puzzled. When the actual implication of the question finally clicked in, however, Tifa joined in with the smirking.

° ˚ • ◊ • ˚ °

Aerith ran around the kitchen in a blur later that evening, hurrying to clean the area up. Olette also helped her stepmother out, working away at the sink as she rinsed any dishes off before placing them inside the dishwasher. She glared in the direction of the kitchen table where Zexion and Roxas were currently resided. Roxas hovered over Zexion as he played a handheld video game, giving tips and advice as the young raven-haired boy mashed buttons on the device.

"Get him, get him! Hurry! Heal yourself before he attacks you again!"

"I'm trying, I'm trying!" Zexion panicked as he pressed down on one button repeatedly.

Olette sighed loudly and turned away from the scene, returning her attention to the dishes in front of her. It was just like Zexion, neglecting his chores for video games instead. She couldn't blame him. She would have done the exact same thing. However, Olette found herself obligated to help Aerith out and remained at her station in the kitchen. Only when she heard the doorbell ring, was she pulled away from the sink.

"Can someone get that?" Aerith called over her shoulder as she continued sweeping the floor with a broom.

"Yeah! You did it!" Roxas exclaimed, giving Zexion a congratulatory high-five. "You finally beat him!"

"I didn't think I could do it!" Zexion cheered as he held on tightly to his handheld game. He didn't seem very likely to answer the front door any time soon.

"Fine," Olette huffed, throwing down the plate she was rinsing off. "I'll go get it."

The doorbell rang again as Olette made her way from the sink to the archway that led into the other room. Without peering over his shoulder and his eyes still glued to the game in Zexion's hands, Roxas informed nonchalantly,

"Someone's at the door."

She growled through her teeth while approaching the door, yanking it open just as the doorbell rang a third time. Olette blinked in surprise at the four figures standing on her porch. Grinning back at her enthusiastically were none other than Yuffie, Kairi, Tifa, and Selphie, all four of the girls carrying bags with them. They were dressed in casual clothing rather than their school uniforms and their bags were stuffed to the point of exploding. An awkward silence blew over the porch as the five girls remained staring at each other, the newcomers smiling from ear to ear while the green-eyed brunette remained completely deadpan.

"What are you…?" Olette's voice trailed off when she found herself completely speechless by their arrival. She searched through the contents of her brain, trying to recall whether or not if she invited the four girls over. As far as she could tell, she hadn't.

Tilting her head and flashing a blinding smile, Selphie waved once for the baffled girl and chimed, "Hi there, Olette!"

Olette did not return the greeting with one of her own, but instead gawked at the girls for another moment. Her emerald eyes trailed away from their faces and drifted over the bags they each had in their hands. After scanning all four bags the female teenagers were carrying, Olette crossed her arms over her chest and narrowed her eyes at her friends when suspicion began to take over the surprise.

"If I didn't know any better," Olette said cautiously, "I would assume you four were spending the night over at some place."

"That's exactly correct!" Yuffie laughed, still beaming innocently. "Your place!"

The brunette standing in the doorway continued staring at the other four in a casual manner as the other girls continued grinning back at Olette. The porch returned to its once uncomfortable silent state, none of them exchanging any words. After a few prolonged seconds of awkward silence, Olette blew up and screeched,

"WHAT?"

"Who the heck is at the door?" Roxas' voice came from behind, asking like the building he was currently standing in was his own home. The blond poked his spiky head out from behind Olette and glimpsed over her shoulder, taking in the presence of the four other girls that were now waving at him. He returned all four smiles with a pleasant grin of his own, immediately inquiring, "Hey, girls. What are you guys doing here?"

"We're sleeping over!" Kairi giggled as she waved at the boy.

"Just here to spend the night, is all," Tifa added, a laugh laced into her voice.

"Says who?" Olette croaked, her voice cracking.

Roxas' polite smile instantly turned mischievous upon hearing this news, directing his perverted grin towards Olette now. She jerked back in surprise when the two locked eyes, quickly picking up on the lewdness behind his grin and frowning because of it.

"Is that so? A sleepover, huh?" Roxas threw his arm around Olette and pulled her in close, laughing as he began ruffling her hair with his hand roughly. Olette grunted because of the action and tried wriggling out of the hold the blond boy had on her. It was no use, though. Roxas had a pretty tight grip on her shoulders, even with just one arm in use. "Why didn't you tell me about this, _Olette_?" His blue eyes flickered over towards the four girls, flashing them a deceivingly charming smile. "I love sleepovers."

"I never said anything about a sleepover!" the brunette squawked indignantly, still flailing her arms in hopes of escaping from Roxas' hold.

"Why is everyone yelling in my doorway?" Aerith sighed tiredly as she floated out of the kitchen and approached Olette and Roxas standing in the doorway. She blinked a few times when her bright green eyes landed on the four guests still standing out on the porch. The girls waved back at the older woman, flashing their smiles for her. Aerith smiled in return, her porcelain face brightening up at the sight of the girls. "Oh! Why hello there, girls. What's with the bags?"

"Olette invited us to sleepover tonight!" Selphie chirped happily, jumping on the spot and clutching her bag to her chest.

Olette's jaw fell slack and her eyes doubled in size as she stared back at the humming chestnut-haired girl. "N-No, I—!"

"Oh! That's wonderful!" Aerith squealed, clapping her hands together and intertwining her fingers, as her smile grew more excited. "That was very kind of my stepdaughter! Please! Come in! Come in!" She ushered the girls inside, allowing them to pass through the door one by one. Glancing down at Olette, she pouted and demanded, "Olette, why didn't you invite them in immediately? That's rude!"

Olette gawked up at her light brunette stepmother, her jaw still dangling open and her green eyes enlarged. "I-I-I-I—"

Roxas rested his elbow on the stammering girl and glimpsed up at Aerith, shooting her a crooked smile as he fibbed, "Olette here was just so excited about the sleepover that she forgot, is all." He winked quickly after finishing up his lie.

"Oh, well." Aerith turned quickly to face the other four girls, the smile returning to her face. "I'll go make some refreshments for you girls. Please, do have fun!"

"Roxas, come here quick! This guy is kicking my ass!" Zexion yelled from the kitchen.

"Zexion, your language!" Aerith scolded as she ambled hurriedly back into the kitchen, followed by Roxas.

Once the two had left them alone, Olette whirled around on the heels of her feet and glared darkly at her four friends standing before her. Kairi and Yuffie's smiles evaporated away and turned into apologetic and nervous grins, shivering under the brunette's icy glower. Selphie just continued smiling like a joyous halfwit as Tifa's smirk remained steady on her face.

"All right," Olette growled. "Very funny. This was all Selphie's idea, wasn't it?"

At the mention of her name, Selphie held her right hand up right next to her face and tilted her head as her smile wavered a bit under Olette's glare that was growing more and more deranged. "Guilty!" the girl sang without a trace of regret in her tone.

Olette's eyes narrowed to slits and the growling grew louder as she gritted her teeth tightly together, also balling her hands up into quaking fists. Selphie yelped once she realized just how angry Olette really was and flinched back. Kairi and Yuffie grabbed onto each other and backed away a few steps, their trembling grins turning pained. Tifa held her hands out in front of her and tried to reason,

"Now, Olette, murdering her isn't going to solve anything. It might make you feel better, but it won't help the situation out very much."

Another yelp escaped Selphie when Tifa mentioned how killing her on the spot might have made Olette feel better. The infuriated brunette looked intrigued to hear this, and considered actually murdering Selphie before brushing the option off as a bad idea.

"Tifa's right," Yuffie chuckled, obviously nervous. "We're just here to have fun, Olette. The fact that Roxas is living with you had absolutely nothing to do with the decision in coming over to spend the night."

The sudden sound of scrambling feet could be heard, even from where the five were standing. All five girls snapped their heads around to see Zexion rush quickly to the archway and lean his entire weight against it, poking his head out into the hallway where the girls were standing. He looked around wildly for a moment before his eyes landed on his sister.

"I thought I heard Yuffie's voice," Zexion breathed, his eyes widened to double their average size. When Yuffie groaned at his arrival, Zexion's eyes darted in her direction and his mouth turned up into a grin. "Why, hello there, Yuffie. Spending the night, I see."

"Maybe this _was_ a bad idea," Yuffie muttered to herself, her eyes narrowing now in regret.

Roxas appeared after Zexion in the archway, laughing with his eyes directed to the handheld game in his hands. "Dude, Zexion," he laughed. "This guy killed you because you dashed out of the room so quickly." His eyes trailed up from the game and landed on the girls.

"Hey, Roxas!" Kairi exclaimed, causing Olette's eye to twitch at the very sound of the overbearing sweetness in her voice. "Why don't you watch a movie with us? It's the first event on our lists of things to do at this sleepover!"

Shrugging, Roxas agreed, "Sure, why not?"

Olette's two sophomore friends and one junior friend squealed while her senior friend only smiled and remained in quiet excitement. Zexion waved his hand frantically through the air with a smile stretching across his face, asking excitedly,

"Ooh! Ooh! I want to watch a movie, too!"

Yuffie groaned again when Olette's younger brother winked back at her. However, she did not argue against the boy's invitation. Olette, on the other hand, frowned at the suggestion and shook her head quickly.

"Now, wait a minute!" she snapped. "I never agreed to letting you all stay here! And who said anything about—?"

"Come on!" Roxas urged, hurrying up to Olette and pushing against her back as he directed her towards the den down the hallway. "Don't be so uptight. Let's watch a movie already! Zexion, come help us pick a movie out!"

The two boys forced the girl into the den as she protested loudly, still intent on getting the four unwanted guests to leave the house immediately before anything even remotely bad could happen. As the three disappeared into the other room, all four girls spun around to face each other, huddling up close so that no one else could hear them conspire.

"Remember, guys!" Selphie whispered, sudden determination flashing onto her face. "We're here to help get Olette and Roxas to share any romantic moments together! Maybe even possibly have something more happen between them!"

"It'll be tough," Tifa added. "Olette's a pretty stubborn girl. She seems pretty convinced that she hates the kid."

"Don't forget, Tifa dear," Yuffie snickered. "There are no limits when it comes to Selphie's plans."

"For love!" Kairi cheered in a quiet voice. The other three nodded their heads once and broke the huddle, quickly making their way into the den before the other three became suspicious.

There, they found Roxas and Olette arguing over which DVD to play while Zexion sat on the couch with irritation radiating from him. Roxas held one DVD in his hand while Olette held a look of annoyance on her face, like she usually did whenever around the hell-raising blond.

"We are not watching that one," she refused with a huff and a cross of her arms, tilting her head in a manner of exasperation and tapping her foot.

Roxas sighed heavily and rolled his eyes to the ceiling. "And why not?" The look of aggravation on his face quickly changed to a lopsided smirk. "Are you afraid of horror movies?"

"That has nothing to do with it!" Olette defended, her face tinting pink in denial. "It's just that movie sucks, is all."

"A horror movie, you say?" Selphie spoke up, skipping into the room and interrupting the argument that was slowly growing pointless. "Let's watch it!"

"This is my house," whined Olette. "I should get to pick the movie!"

"Don't the guests usually get to pick?" Roxas sent the girl another smirk. Behind him, her four friends nodded simultaneously in agreement. Zexion remain seated at the couch, slowly growing impatient. Admitting defeat, Olette sighed and hung her head as she plodded her way over to the couch.

Olette sat by the armrest and glared at the TV set before the couch, her elbow propped up on the armrest and her head cradled in her hand. The other girls gathered around Roxas as he fiddled with the DVD player connected to the television set. She scoffed in disgust and directed her glare over to Zexion, which caused the young boy to flinch when he realized who it was his older sister was piercing a deadly glower into.

"Go make some popcorn," Olette snarled through her teeth. "Now."

Without so much as an objection, Zexion sprang to his feet and bolted out of the den with the kitchen as his destination. Any excuse would have done well, as long as it meant getting away from his demonic sister. Once the DVD player was going, Kairi Yuffie, and Tifa hurried over to the couch to claim their spots. Yuffie sat herself down where Zexion was once sitting while Tifa took her place right beside her. Rather than taking a spot on the couch, Kairi slumped down to the carpeted floor near the couch between the two other girls and crossed her legs together. This left just enough room for Roxas and Selphie, who were still over by the DVD player. Seeing this, Olette attempted to scoot over towards Tifa in hopes of avoiding any chance of being stuck sitting next to the horrid blond boy. Just as the desperate brunette was about to pull this move, however, Selphie came sprinting over to the couch and shoved Olette aside. Selphie quickly sat herself down next to Tifa (who she apparently no longer feared), forcing Olette back over to her spot by the armrest. The girl gawked at Selphie as soon as she had been shoved, not because she thought it had been rude of her friend to push her, but because of the horrified realization that dawned on her.

There was no other place for Roxas to sit except beside her.

"Come on, Roxas!" Selphie chimed as she pat the empty spot between her and Olette, her singsong tone much too overbearing. Any more sickly sweetness dripping from Selphie's voice, and Olette might have vomited. "Sit down! The movie's about to start!"

Roxas walked over to the couch the girls were occupying before screeching to a sudden halt. His eyes scanned over the couch, landing on the empty spot Selphie had saved just for him. They darted from the spot to Olette right beside it, narrowing into slits upon landing on her. She gladly returned his repulsed look with a hateful glare of her own. Flicking his bangs out of his eyes, Roxas scoffed in obvious disgust as he decided,

"I think I'll just sit on the floor with Kairi."

"Nonsense!" Selphie giggled as her arms shot out and wrapped around Roxas' upper arm, forcing the boy to stumble back slightly as a yelp escaped out of his throat. She yanked the boy back roughly, causing him to fall back onto the couch in the empty spot between her and the brunette girl and yelp a second time. Roxas gaped down at the devious chestnut-haired girl, coming face to face with her famous Cheshire Cat grin. He could practically make out the mischievous conspiring in her olive green eyes. "You'll sit _right_ here."

She then shoved lightly against Roxas, causing him to lean more towards Olette. The two grunted on contact, each of them exchanging bewildered side-glances with each other. Olette quickly glanced away from the boy with a huff as Roxas directed his annoyed gaze back at the TV. Neither of them noticed the discreet smirks the four other girls flashed at each other before returning their attention to the DVD playing. As soon as the movie started up, Zexion trudged back into the den with a large bowl practically overfilling with popcorn in his hands. He came to a halt in front of the couch, staring confusedly at the five sitting somewhat comfortably on the couch. The raven-haired boy's face twisted into a hurt pout as he continued staring.

"You took my spot," Zexion informed Yuffie, the hurt tone thick in his voice.

Shooting Olette's younger brother a pained grin, Yuffie simply replied, "Ah, it's fine! You can just sit on the floor with Kairi!"

At the mention of her name, Kairi craned her head back so as to stare up at Zexion and waved in a friendly manner for the boy. He stared down at the redhead before his hurt frown faded away. Now smiling with lewd mischievousness disguised behind his grin, his eyes trailed back up to Yuffie and winked. Doing so caused the girl's forced smile to contort into a revolted scowl.

"Or I could just sit in your lap," the boy proposed suggestively, already making the motion of sitting down in Yuffie's lap.

Before his rear end had a chance of making any sort of contact with her lap, Yuffie shoved the boy away with as much force as she could muster. The boy squawked in surprise as he went lurching forward, tumbling towards the floor, while the bowl of popcorn flew up into the air out of his hands. Tifa's arms instinctively shot out directly in front of her and caught the bowl in time to save the popcorn from scattering about all over the carpet. However, no one reached out in time to save Zexion from falling to the floor face first, all of them wincing when his fall caused a loud thud to echo off the walls of the den. Zexion groaned into the carpet, sprawled out on the floor.

"If you keep pushing it," Yuffie sang with her teeth tightly gritted together, the smile on her face so forced that the corners of her mouth kept twitching involuntarily, "I might just kick you in the teeth." She tilted her head to the side sweetly, still showering Zexion in her strained smile.

The boy sat up dejectedly and rubbed the back of his head, Kairi glancing at him out of the corner of her eye in time to see the hurt pout returning to his face. Returning her eyes to the movie playing before her, the redhead inwardly giggled. She wasn't sure which one she was supposed to pity, Yuffie or Zexion.

The seven teenagers watched as the movie progressed, most of them leaning forward in anticipation as they watched. Olette had her head held in her hand, her elbow resting on the armrest to her left. The other girls had actually become involved with the movie, some of them booing or gasping when something jumped out from around the corner. Every so often, Tifa threw a handful of popcorn at the blonde damsel in distress whose main role was screaming every time she appeared on the screen. Roxas would laugh every time, enjoying the movie along with them surprisingly enough. Whenever the leading male got some screen time, Selphie made some lustful comment about his attractiveness, earning some sort of gagging noise out of Yuffie or Tifa. Whenever Yuffie jumped at a part because she was startled, Zexion would glance up at her from over his shoulder with a smirk on his face and say,

"Don't worry, Yuffie. Sexy Zexy is here to protect you."

To which Yuffie would reply with a whack to the back of the boy's head.

While the others were enjoying the movie, Olette herself was not. If anything, she was trying everything to distract herself. In the beginning, the movie was boring as it progressed slowly. So, at first, Olette had been trying to distract herself out of boredom. Now, however, that the plot had finally kicked in (if it could even be called that) Olette was trying to avert her attention to other things for different reasons. Though she did not want to admit it to him at first, Roxas had been right about one thing. She was not entirely fond of horror movies. Even though they might have been stupid and utterly predictable, Olette was still easily scared. It was because of this that lame horror movies still managed to frighten her every time something jumped out of the shadows, or someone screamed bloody murder, or even when one of the victims in the movie was being killed off-screen.

By the time the seven were already to the middle of the movie, Olette was peeking out of the cracks in her fingers. Both of her hands were placed over her face in an attempt to shield her eyes from any more horrid images that came up on the TV screen. Even then, she found herself tempted to sneak a peek whenever she became curious as to what Kairi was gasping at and what Selphie was yelping about. The thing that made the experience worse was the fact that Olette had not watched this movie with the rest of her family, so she had no idea what to expect from the movie. None of it was pee-your-pants worthy, but that didn't prevent her from jumping now and again as her heart uncomfortably skipped a beat. It didn't help out Olette's situation very much when Roxas took notice of the girl's fright and poked her hard in the side every now and again just to see her jump in shock, too distracted by the movie to protect her sides and glaring at Roxas whenever he did this and snickered at her reaction.

"Don't go around the corner!" Yuffie yelled at the TV screen as she grabbed a handful of popcorn out of the bowl in Tifa's hands and chucked it at the screen, aiming directly for the actress' frightened face. Sitting beside her was Tifa, her head craned back and her mouth hanging open as she continued sleeping. Olette peeled her eyes away from the TV long enough to cast Tifa a curious glance. Apparently, the tall brunette had fallen asleep sometime during the movie, most likely from boredom, and was now currently snoring loudly. "Don't do it! He's gonna get you!"

"Oh, no." Selphie shielded her eyes with her hand, trembling as the eerie music squealed loudly from the TV's speakers, dramatizing the thrilling moment the actress would step around the corner.

Roxas' eyes remained glued to the TV screen, concentrating completely on the movie. His hand slowly reached for the popcorn bowl Tifa was still holding onto even while asleep and slipped into the almost empty bowl, grabbing a handful of popcorn as he pulled his hand back. Olette returned her enlarged eyes to the movie as Roxas stuffed the entire handful of popcorn into his mouth and began chewing. Kairi was clutching onto Zexion's arm while Zexion himself was too busy burying his eyes into his hands, doing anything he could to avoid witnessing the actress's ghastly demise. Yuffie continued flinging bits of popcorn at the TV, complaining about the female character's stupidity, and how she shouldn't have gotten separated from the group and how it was best if she refrained from going around the corner. Tifa merely snored, her hand slipping to her side as she lost her flimsy grip on the bowl in her lap.

Finally, after a drawn out and unnecessary build up of tension, the actress rounded the corner with shallow and loud breathing. Something that was less than useful in concealing her whereabouts if she was that determined on making sure the serial killer couldn't find her. The actress jumped and screamed as she turned the corner, making it seem like she had come face to face with the killer she was trying to avoid. Her sudden cry was what caused all six teens awake to jolt in surprise. Zexion had even shrieked in shock, but quickly cleared his throat when he realized he had just surrendered his masculinity right in front of Yuffie.

All six of them exhaled loudly as they tried calming their rattled nerves. Kairi placed her hand over her heart as she drew out a relieved sigh. Zexion straightened himself up so as to come off as manly and brave in front of the very girl he was trying to impress. Selphie kept her clenched hands held against her mouth, peering over her hands at the TV with her eyes still widened to double their size in anticipation. Roxas sighed before taking another handful of popcorn out of the bowl and stuffing it into his mouth. Tifa snored again. Olette calmed down when she realized it was a false alarm and slowly pulled her hands away from her face, sighing quietly to herself out of relief and hanging her head slightly. It seemed all was not lost for the actress' female character.

The actress also sighed in relief along with the six teens watching the movie, though remained cautious so as to not become distracted. She slowly turned around, hoping to retrace her steps and find her way back to the group before the killer found her alone. However, as soon as the actress turned around, the camera revealed that the serial killer had snuck up on her when she was too busy mustering up enough courage to turn the corner.

This scene had caused all six teenagers to scream in unison and jump, completely startled by the killer's sudden and almost unexpected appearance. Olette clutched her chest tightly as some sort of method to calm her breathing, the girl able to feel her heart beat rapidly from surprise inside her ribcage.

The actress screamed at the sight of the murderer and tried to make a terrified run for it. As she tried to turn in an attempt to run for her life, the killer reached out and swiftly grabbed her by the neck by throwing his arm around it. He pulled her back as she continued shrieking, almost like all the yelling she was doing was going to save her. The killer held his bloodstained chainsaw up, a weapon Olette hadn't found practical since the beginning of the movie.

At the sight of the chainsaw, Selphie yelped for the umpteenth time since the movie first started and hid her eyes behind her hands again. Zexion was back to slumping over in fear, burying his eyes in his lap as he wrapped his quaking arms tightly over his head. Kairi, Yuffie, and Roxas kept watching as the killer held the deadly weapon in the air, waiting for his next move. Despite her urge to also turn away from the movie and shield her eyes, Olette continued watching with her widened eyes glued to the screen. She quickly regretted doing so, though, because right at that moment the killer brought his chainsaw down and began hacking away at the girl's abdomen, increasing her shrill and earsplitting screeches in volume. Blood splattered everywhere, along with chunks of human flesh.

Kairi yelped at the scene, making a grab for Olette's trembling younger brother again. Yuffie spewed out some colorful words, also giving in to the fear that had been building up inside of her. Even though Selphie had not witnessed the horrific scene herself, she still cried into the palms of her hands that were still plastered tightly over her face. Roxas flinched back at the scene, crying out in disgust and alarm. Zexion was already yelling loudly into his lap, begging for it to stop despite the fact he had not watched the girl get brutally murdered by the movie's villain. Tifa remained sound asleep, adding a loud snore to the screaming of the six other teenagers.

The gory scene was enough to make Olette gag, maybe even vomit a bit. Instead of doing that, the girl settled for jumping in fright and screaming in absolute terror. Hoping to soothe her nerves and fears a little bit, Olette clutched onto the closest thing and buried her face in it, still screaming because of the stupid horror movie. What she failed to realize was that the thing she had latched onto for safety was Roxas, both her arms wrapped firmly around the boy. Having been also startled by the merciless killing, Roxas' hands shot up and grabbed onto Olette's arms, trying his best to calm his trembling before any of the girls noticed his moment of weakness. Both teens continued holding onto each other without being really aware of it, Olette's face still buried in Roxas' arm.

The scene changed to the leading actor, which earned Selphie's full and undivided attention again. The screaming gradually died down, ceasing completely when the mood of the situation lessened. Zexion dared a peek at the TV screen and Kairi stopped shaking. Yuffie was back to eating popcorn peacefully, munching away on the food. Tifa continued sleeping. They were all concentrating on the movie. That is, until they realized the two teens on the other end of the couch were still embracing each other. Selphie quickly turned her head away from the TV screen, reluctantly, and stared wide-eyed at Roxas and Olette grasping onto each other out of terror. A satisfied smirk slowly crawled its way onto her round face, and the other two girls soon followed the trail of Selphie's eyes. Kairi and Yuffie also grinned at the sight of Olette suffocating Roxas with her embrace, her face lost in his arm. What made the situation all the better for Selphie was the fact that Roxas had also leeched himself onto the girl.

"You two comfortable over there?" Yuffie finally teased, earning Zexion's intrigued attention as he also glanced his sister's way.

Olette peeked from behind Roxas' arm as the blond turned his head to glance curiously at the raven-haired girl. They both blinked in surprise upon being met with three rascally smirks. Roxas and Olette both flinched back in alarm, confused as to why the three girls were smirking back at them in such a manner. Slowly, Olette's green eyes drifted up to Roxas' face. Noticing her sudden gaze, Roxas' stare flickered down to meet Olette's eyes. The two gaped at each other, neither of them moving to remove their arms from each other.

"Looks like somebody got scared!" Kairi giggled with her hand to her mouth.

Leaning forward, placing her hands right in front of her and pinning them to the couch, Selphie winked at the two and joked, "Don't worry at all, Olette! If you get scared, Roxas is here to protect you. Aren't you, Roxas?"

Roxas ripped his bewildered gawk away from Selphie and glanced down at Olette again. She, too, tore her eyes away from the light brunette so as to lock eyes with the boy once more. When she gradually became aware of what Selphie was trying to suggest, Olette's mystified face quickly changed into a flustered frown. Scoffing, she immediately yanked her arms off the blond boy and pushed him off the couch, sending Roxas toppling over to the floor beside Kairi. The girls gasped and stared wide-eyed, appalled by Olette's actions. He sat on his rear end groaning in pain, glaring up at the blushing brunette girl with stunned bemusement.

Staring down at him smugly, Olette informed with a haughty tone, "For your information, I only grabbed onto you because you were right there."

Roxas' sapphire orbs narrowed as he remained leaning back on his arms, his head tilting to the side defensively. "It's not like I wanted you latching onto me, anyway," he barked.

"I guess a movie wasn't a good idea." Selphie tapped her index finger against her pursed lips as her eyes rolled up to the ceiling in deep concentration. The girl snapped her fingers suddenly, which earned her the attention of all five pairs of eyes in the room. It was only when Selphie snapped her fingers did Tifa finally wake up from her nap, snorting in surprise and jolting up in her seat.

"What did I miss?" she slurred while wiping her mouth with the back of her hand, her eyelids still heavy from sleeping.

"Let's play some games," Selphie suggested innocently, trying her best to hide the troublesome smirk that was begging to stretch across her face. "This movie was no good anyway."

"Yeah," Zexion scoffed loudly as he tried to pull off a manly demeanor. He glanced at Yuffie, puffing out his chest. "It wasn't that scary, anyway." Yuffie could only respond with a roll of her dark eyes, a sigh hissing through her teeth.

"Games?" The stare Olette had on Selphie turned suspicious as her emerald eyes narrowed in skepticism. If there was anything she had learned by now, it was never to go along with any suggestions Selphie made. They only led to misfortune for her.

"Yeah, why not," Tifa agreed, already off the couch. The tall girl approached the TV and turned it off, popping the DVD out of the DVD player. "What kind of games?"

"Slumber party games, of course!" Selphie giggled, casually waving her hand through the air like the suggestion was nothing more than innocent fun. Olette knew all too well, however, that when it came to Selphie nothing was innocent fun.

The sound of the idea caused Tifa to frown in distaste. "On second thought, maybe not."

"Oh, it'll be fun!" the chestnut-haired girl went on to say, springing off the couch while playing cheery. Her olive green eyes darted down towards Kairi, silently demanding support out of the redhead before anyone else could refuse the suggestion.

"Yeah, that's not a bad idea." Kairi grinned widely, directing it at Selphie at first and then flashing it in Olette's direction. "We can play Seven Minutes In Heaven!"

"I'll go first!" Zexion practically shouted, raising his hand in the air like he was expecting to be called on if he did so. Without waiting for a response from any of the other teens, the boy hurried to his feet, grabbed Yuffie's hand and forcefully yanked her up onto her feet, and dashed into the depths of the nearby coat closet, dragging the unsuspecting raven-haired girl all the way inside.

"Wait, wha—?" Yuffie's dumbfounded voice was cut off as the closet door slammed shut tightly, cutting the two off from the rest of the world.

For a long while, the other five remained motionless in the den as they stared at the very spot both Zexion and Yuffie disappeared. Awkward might have been one word Olette would have used to describe the previous moment, but there were still many other colorful words stumbling around in her head that she was considering. The idea of Yuffie being trapped in a closet with her younger brother who had lewd intentions in mind caused Olette to inwardly gag in repulsion. She would have gotten up to stop the horrific scene from taking place inside the closet. However, she never got the chance because that was when Kairi decided to slowly turn back towards the others and say,

"…Guess we'll have to play something else for now."

Selphie nodded slowly in agreement, vividly disturbed by what had happened. "Yeah… We'll just have to wait for those two… In the mean time, let's play a different game!" The radiant smile returned to its previous place on Selphie's face, masking her mischievousness that Olette was slowly growing aware of. "Something like Spin the Bottle!"

"Oh, too bad," Olette sighed dramatically, obviously faking her disappointment as her shoulders drooped for added emphasis on her act. "But I'm afraid we don't have a single bottle! Looks like we'll just have to do something else."

"I saw a bottle in the kitchen near the sink," Roxas informed as he jabbed his thumb in the direction of the kitchen nearby, not even trying to hide the smirk he had directed at Olette. She quickly turned to face him, her jaw hanging slightly open in surprise and outrage. He had betrayed her!

"Perfect!" Selphie clasped her hands together upon hearing this piece of information. "I'll go get it then!" She was gone before Olette had a chance to protest.

Tifa scoffed, reluctant to even think about playing such games. "Spin the Bottle? Seriously, what are we, twelve?"

At least someone other than Olette felt reluctant to play the stupid game. Kairi was not among them as she leaned back where she sat on the floor and sent Tifa a hurt-puppy look. Why was she so eager to play the game? Better yet, why was Selphie? They had some secret intention going on with arriving at Olette's house in the first place, and she wanted to know what it was. However, she wasn't given the chance to demand the truth out of her friend when she returned from the kitchen, because as soon as Selphie reappeared back inside the den she plopped herself down on the floor next to Kairi and placed the bottle down nearby. Tifa mimicked her action by taking a seat on the floor as well, followed by Roxas. Olette was the only one who remained on the couch.

"Come on, Olette!" Kairi laughed as she began pulling the brunette off the couch. "It'll be fun."

"Who wants to go first?" Selphie chimed, her eyes flashing over towards Olette as an implication. Before Olette had a chance to respond, the redheaded girl was the first to reply.

"I'll go." Kairi grabbed a hold on the bottle and gave it a good twirl. Around and around it went before finally slowing down. They all watched in anticipation as the bottle finally came to a full stop, landing on none other than Tifa. Her red eyes trailed up to meet Kairi's gaze as the redhead asked, "Truth or dare, Miss Tifa?"

Tifa shrugged, leaning back in obvious boredom. "Eh, dare. Why not?"

Kairi stared up at the ceiling, deep in thought, as she tapped her finger against her lips while wearing a smirk and contemplated the many things she could have forced the senior girl to do. She returned her gaze to Tifa, maintaining the smirk on her face as she asked,

"Have you ever streaked before, Miss Tifa?"

Rather than begging for another dare that wasn't as extreme as streaking down the sidewalk in Olette's neighborhood, Tifa returned Kairi's smirk with one of her own. Stretching her arms above her head, she got up from where she was sitting and glanced down at the underclassmen before her. Tilting her head to the side and increasing her grin in mischievousness, Tifa simply said, "Well, here I go," before leaving the den.

Roxas was the first to spring excitedly to his feet and follow after the girl to witness the event take place. Kairi also jumped to her feet and hurried after Tifa to make sure the girl went through with her dare. Selphie glanced over at Olette before also rising to her feet and chasing after the other three. Olette remained where she was, completely surprised at the fact that Tifa was so… _casual_ about the whole thing. Almost like she enjoyed walking around in public while naked. She shivered at the thought and decided to stay in the den where she wouldn't see more of Tifa than she would have preferred. The brunette heard Roxas whoop in approval and Kairi laugh from the living room after a few minutes, both of them most likely watching Tifa through a window. Selphie gasped loudly from the other room, completely shocked that the girl had gone through with it. Olette groaned to herself and flopped back on the carpeted floor, wishing for her friends to just go home already.

After several more minutes, the four of them returned to the den, Tifa fully clothed and smiling triumphantly like what she had done was something to be proud of and Roxas slightly red in the face. Olette took a moment to send him a disgusted frown, to which he responded with an innocent shrug. Tifa sat down in front of the bottle, still smiling back at the other teens.

"It's kind of cold out there," she joked, earning a laugh out of all of them except Olette. Without another word, Tifa spun the bottle with all her might. After several seconds, the bottle slowed down and landed on Olette. She could have sworn she saw Selphie lean forward excitedly, almost like the girl was expecting something out of this. Grinning, Tifa questioned, "Olette, truth or dare?"

Knowing her friends, it was best to go with the safest response. "Truth," she quickly responded, and saw Selphie shrink back in disappointment. Some of that disappointment seemed to make its way onto Tifa's face, but she quickly hid it so as to not come off as obvious.

"Let's see now," Tifa said aloud as she leaned back on her arms. She flashed the green-eyed brunette a lopsided smirk before inquiring, "Have you and Roxas done anything this entire week while living together?"

Olette's nose scrunched up, certain there were lewd implications behind the question. It would explain why Selphie snickered and Kairi tried to stifle a giggle. Why Roxas himself had even laughed was the confusing part. The shower incident instantly popped up in her mind, but she pushed it all the way to the back of her mind and decided it was best to not even mention it. Maybe that was why the blond boy snickered upon hearing the question.

"No, of course not!" she immediately denied, even though she knew it would hardly convince the girls. "My turn!" The sooner she spun the bottle, the less likely it was they would continue to pry.

The bottle spun around as a blur, its tip passing by each teenager as it continued going around and around in a circle. It began to slow down before eventually landing on Selphie. The chestnut-haired girl stared down at the bottle for a moment before slowly staring up at Olette. Suddenly, a doomed feeling settled upon Selphie, no matter which option she chose. She knew the wrath of Olette would have been bestowed upon her eventually. She just didn't know it was going to be this soon.

"Selphie." A maniacal smirk took over Olette's lips, the corners of her mouth turned upright with wicked intent. "Truth or dare?"

"D-Dare." Selphie wasn't about to back down or show any signs of weakness to the demonic brunette sitting before her. If she did, then there was no doubt in her mind that Olette would show her no mercy.

Olette's smirk only grew in size upon hearing Selphie's choice. There were many more options to choose from with dare as Selphie's preferred choice. The question was, what was it she should force the girl to do? Olette sat there, thinking long and hard on which was the better punishment. Selphie had it coming, after all. Now, it was Olette's turn to make the choice. Her brows knitted together as she continued thinking. Finally, she directed her smirk back at the chestnut-haired girl.

"Selphie, I dare you to…"

Moments later, Selphie sat with the rest of her friends, shivering slightly and scowling angrily at Olette. The girl only smirked at her shivering friend, satisfied with the results of Selphie's dare. Meanwhile, Tifa was snickering loudly at Selphie's misfortune while Kairi was trying her best to not laugh out loud. Roxas averted his gaze from the girl, trying to keep his eyes glued to anything but Selphie. The chestnut-haired girl sat on her legs in humiliation, her hands held tightly to her lap in hopes of covering herself up.

"This isn't funny, Olette!" Selphie finally barked, sitting in nothing more than her lacey black bra and underwear.

"Really?" Olette cackled, not even trying to sympathize with the girl. "Because I think it's hilarious!"

Selphie would have retaliated, but she wasn't given the chance because at that exact moment, Aerith walked into the den with a tray of snacks and drinks for the teens. Olette's stepmother stopped in her tracks, however, upon glancing down at Selphie, sitting there in nothing more than a brazier and a pair of panties. The den fell awkwardly silent as Selphie and Aerith exchanged an unwavering stare, the other four not daring to make a sound just in case. Olette inwardly face-palmed herself, already able to hear the long and tiring speech that was to come for her in the near future about picking the right people to hang out with. After several seconds of unbearable silence, Aerith spun around on a single heel and left the den without even leaving behind the tray of beverages and snacks for the teens. All eyes were on Selphie when the stepmother left, causing the humiliation swimming around in the tiny chestnut-haired girl to increase.

"Whatever! It's my turn!" hissed Selphie as she reached for the bottle, practically throttling it with her tight grip. She gave the bottle a good spin, making sure to show the glass thing no mercy. After all, she needed something to vent her anger on. It continued to spin around in full circles before finally slowing down. Everyone stared at the bottle for a moment before looking up at the person it stopped on.

Roxas.

The humiliation Selphie was once feeling completely vanished, replaced by mischievous spite. Her expression, which was once filled with angered malice and embarrassment, had converted into a gleeful smirk that was aimed directly at Roxas. Finally, she was given just the opportunity she needed to put her plan into action. She had waited for what seemed like forever, but finally, she was given the chance to force any sort of romance to progress forward. And maybe get a little bit of revenge on Olette while she was at it. Trying her best to disguise her smirk as nothing more than an innocent smile, Selphie tilted her head to the side and chirped,

"Roxas, truth or dare?"

Shrugging, the boy nonchalantly replied, "Dare."

He saw no harm in doing so when concerning Selphie. Olette, on the other hand, practically winced back in horror when she heard the word come out of Roxas' mouth. While she had been wiser when concerning Selphie, Roxas unfortunately was not. The brunette almost had the urge to lunge forward and warn the boy of the oncoming trouble Selphie was about to wreak, even beg him to change his mind and go with truth instead. Olette was never given the opportunity to do so, because as soon as Roxas answered, Selphie allowed her false smile to reveal her true smirk and demanded,

"I dare you to kiss Olette."

She froze at Selphie's words, predicting everything Selphie could have unleashed but that. Out of the corner of her eye, Olette saw Kairi smile the tiniest, almost discreet, grin. Even Tifa had allowed herself to smile impishly! They were all in on it, this Olette was sure of. Unfortunately for them, it wasn't going to happen. There was just no way in hell that Roxas was going to agree full heartedly to this dare. Not when he absolutely despised her that much. Even if it was a dare, there was no doubt in Olette's mind that the blond boy was going to refuse Selphie's dare. The thought almost caused Olette to smirk triumphantly. Almost.

She had expected Roxas to respond several ways. Say something like,

"Ew, no way!"

Or,

"Yeah, maybe when pigs fly!"

Or even,

"There is no way in hell I'm kissing this psychotic bitch!"

What she did not expect Roxas to say, not in her lifetime anyway, was, "Well, if that's the dare then okay."

Olette had to blink several times in order to regain her senses. Preferably her hearing sense. For a moment, she was certain she had gone either deaf or mentally unstable. That would explain the boy's unexpected and completely out of character answer. But when Roxas inched closer towards her and pinned his hand down on the floor so as to help him keep his balance when he leaned forward, she was starting to suspect her hearing had not gone faulty after all. Off to the side, Selphie's giddy smirk had turned hopefully as she brought her clenched hands to her mouth so as to block any sort of giggling from coming out. Kairi also leaned in and watched expectantly as Roxas' face grew closer and closer towards Olette's. Tifa looked around the room uncomfortably, not sure how she was supposed to respond.

The distance between Olette's face and Roxas' face grew smaller as he slowly, almost excruciatingly, leaned forward. What made the situation worse was that she had completely frozen up, and was not even able to move in order to escape the oncoming kiss. And that was exactly what she wanted to do. She wanted to move. At least, she was pretty sure she wanted to move. But when the thumping in her chest grew rapid and the heat in her face grew hotter and the boy drew closer, Olette wasn't a hundred percent sure what to do anymore. Beating Selphie until she stopped breathing seemed like a reasonable answer to her problem. So was moving out of Roxas' way, which she was unfortunately unable to do. Because of this, she remained frozen in her spot with Roxas' lips just centimeters away from her own now. The girl squeezed her eyes shut and waited. Apprehensively or excitedly, she wasn't sure, but she waited anyway.

Seeing this, Roxas smirked before quickly leaning forward and conking Olette's forehead as hard as he could with his own forehead. Olette cried out in pain and surprise as she fell back onto the floor, Roxas looming over her and laughing rudely. Tifa snickered along with the boy, trying her best to hide it from the brunette girl who was currently rubbing her throbbing forehead. Selphie huffed loudly in disappointment as she crossed her arms and pursed out her lips, frowning darkly at Roxas. Kairi's shoulders drooped, also let down by the events that had happened. When Olette's narrowed eyes flickered up at Roxas to glare at him, after rubbing the pain in her forehead away, the blond stuck his tongue out at her upon locking eyes.

"Like I'd ever kiss you!" he chortled, mocking her to the point where her face tinged bright red. "You wish!"

"You dummy!" Selphie whined, her glare still directed at the boy. "You didn't follow through with the dare."

Roxas shrugged with an arrogant air floating around him now. "It was never going to happen anyway. Just give me something else to do."

"You okay, Olette?" Kairi asked in a whispering tone as she reached out and placed her hand softly on Olette's shoulder.

The brunette girl sat back up, crossing her legs and hanging her head so no one else in the room could see the look on her face. The last thing she needed was for one of them to notice the bright red color that had taken over her visage. Olette held her hands tightly against her lap, trying her best to control her enraged trembling. As Roxas went on cackling, she murmured viciously to herself through gritted teeth, "You…"

"YOU LITTLE SNOT!" a voice boomed from inside the nearby coat closet.

Everyone's heads jerked up and directed their attention to the closed closet. Olette had almost forgotten about Yuffie, or even that closet. The sound of struggling could be heard from inside the closet. Someone yelped in pain, the voice most likely belonging to Zexion himself. Everyone in the den winced back when they heard an audible smack, and Zexion yelping again. With one final rustling, the closet door flew open and Yuffie stomped out of it. Zexion tumbled out of the closet after her, dragging several coats along with him. The boy landed in a heap on the floor, tangled in the web of coats. He struggled to make his way out of the coats, but ceased when he noticed Yuffie loomed over him in a vexed mood.

"Heh heh," he tittered, intimidated by the expression on the girl's face. "I was just…"

"You damn brat!" Yuffie snarled, placing her foot on his side and giving him a good hard nudge. She sent Zexion rolling across the floor and back into the closet. When he disappeared into the shadows of the closet, Yuffie slammed the door shut and continued seething at it. No one spoke up to ask the question they were all thinking: What exactly happened inside the closet in the last several minutes? The very thought alone was unfathomable. Silence had fallen over the group, which Olette quickly broke when she could no longer take any of it.

"That's it!" she shouted, earning herself the attention of everyone in the den. Olette hurried to her feet, her red face twisted into a frustrated scowl. "Everyone, out! Now!" She had her index finger pointed in the general direction of the front door, glaring at everyone gawking up at her.

"But, Olette!" Selphie tried saying.

"I didn't invite any of you over in the first place!" Olette continued shouting, her anger and frustration secretly directed at Roxas even though she had been taking it out on her female friends. "Get out, now! I'm tired of this."

Kairi reached cautiously up towards Olette in hopes of calming the brunette down. "We were just trying—"

"Out!"

The three girls sitting on the ground got up on their feet finally, each one giving Olette some sort of worried expression. They stood frozen for a moment before slowly retreating from the den to go pick up their bags and leave. Only after Selphie dressed herself again, of course. Yuffie stayed by the closet door for a moment, confusion clouding her expression. Something must have happened during the time she spent trapped inside the closet. She didn't even bother to ask Olette for an explanation as she quickly followed after the other three girls. Olette ushered the four girls out through the front door and watched as they all made their way down the porch stairs. When the last of her uninvited guests stepped out the door she slammed it shut, putting an end to the hellish sleepover. The brunette girl remained by the door, piercing and icy glare into it, still fuming. Roxas joined her by the door after leaving the den, his brows knitted together in annoyance.

"Was that bitch fit really necessary?" he asked her rhetorically, Olette's back still turned to him.

Roxas stumbled back in bewilderment, holding his now swollen cheek, when Olette whirled around on him and slapped him as hard as she could across the face. He stared down at her in absolute disbelief, his blue eyes widened in shock. Olette returned his alarmed gawk with a frustrated frown. Her upset nerves had finally pooled over, and now that the two were finally alone she had no one else to unleash her fury on but him. What surprised Roxas the most was that her glower didn't hold its usual annoyance. Instead, he could make out the genuine odium and hurt in her eyes.

"You're a jerk!" Olette shouted, clenching her fists and pinning her arms firmly to her sides. She felt the tears pooling in her eyes, but quickly squeezed them shut in fear that they would actually overflow and start spilling down her cheeks. Her voice cracked as the words left her mouth, the uncomfortable lump already forming at the back of her throat.

"I… I hate you!" she finally exclaimed as she opened up her teary eyes again to look back into his distressed eyes. "I can't wait until you leave!" the girl cried as she shoved past Roxas and hurried up the stairs.

Roxas remained motionless by the door, his hand still held firmly against his cheek. The boy hung his head as he listened to Olette rush up the stairs, run into her room, and slam the door shut behind her.

° ˚ • ◊ • ˚ °

The next day, the weekend thankfully, Olette found herself still lying around on her bed, extremely reluctant to move. Downstairs, she could hear the rest of her family moving around, Roxas most likely among them. Outside, a few rays crept into her room through her curtains, casting across her face. Not once since waking up had she left her room. Instead, she remained motionless on her bed as she listened to her computer ping. She didn't even have to get up to know whom it was trying to reach her.

**Deepest Desire:** _Olette, r u there?_

**SelphieGirl:** _Come on, Olette. If this is about Roxas not kissing u—_

**Deepest Desire:** _Selphie! Ur not helping!_

**SelphieGirl:** _Sorry! Please Olette, we know ur there. We're sorry about yesterday._

Rather than logging in to reply to their instant messaging, Olette ignored her computer in hopes that the two would get the message that she didn't want to speak to anyone. After slapping Roxas yesterday, she had stayed in the confines of her room, not leaving once since then. This was so she wouldn't have to talk to anyone in her family or face Roxas. The less people she communicated with, the better. She listened silently as the doorbell rang suddenly throughout her house, her spirits lifting at the sound. The doorbell going off was a sign, the sign she had been waiting for all week. The return of Roxas' mother. It was only when she heard the doorbell did Olette remove herself from her bed and slowly open the door to her room.

Sure enough, Aerith opened the front door downstairs to reveal Larxene standing on the porch. Olette finally found herself smiling her first smile since yesterday, overjoyed at the sight of Roxas' mother. Finally, after an entire week of nothing but torture, Roxas would be leaving her house.

"Oh, hello there, Larxene!" Aerith chimed politely as she flashed the blonde intimidating woman a bright smile. "How was your trip?"

"Long and tiring," Larxene sighed bluntly as she stepped inside. Aerith closed the door behind the woman. "I hope my son didn't give you too much trouble."

"No, of course not!" Aerith laughed lightly with a wave of her hand. Olette scowled upon hearing this. Sure, Roxas might not have given Aerith any trouble, but he sure gave _her_ a hell of a lot of trouble. "Roxas was so well behaved. He really is a good boy."

"Glad somebody thinks so," Larxene muttered to herself before flashing the brunette woman a forced smile when Aerith glanced at her curiously.

"Roxas!" Aerith called loudly with her hand cupped around her mouth. "Your mother is here to pick you up!"

Olette waited anxiously in the doorway of her room as she watched, waiting for Roxas to trudge into the main hallway of her house with his packed bags in his hands. However, when a minute or two passed and he still made no appearance, she began to grow suspicious. Aerith looked around confusedly as Larxene started to grow impatient. Olette's stepmother tried once more, exclaiming,

"Roxas! Your mom is here!"

Zexion walked out into the hallway, his expression irritated with all the shouting. "Roxas isn't here," he informed his stepmother.

"Not here?" Larxene repeated, her previously tired tone turning worried.

"What do you mean not here?" Aerith asked, glancing nervously back at the blonde mother before returning her gaze to her stepson.

Shrugging, Zexion said, "He disappeared this morning and hasn't come back since."

Confused, and curiosity getting the better of her, Olette left her room and zoomed down the stairs. She rushed to her brother's side and questioned, "What happened?"

"Roxas left," Zexion retold. His eyes drifted up to the ceiling as he tilted his head and a confused look grazed his features. "Funny thing is he left all his stuff behind."

"You mean Roxas ran away?" Larxene gasped when the idea dawned on her.

Aerith looked away from Zexion again and sent Larxene a worried but determined look. Placing her hand on the blonde woman's shoulder, she assured, "We'll find Roxas, Larxene. Don't worry."

Brows knitted together in anxiety, Larxene could only nod her head for the brunette stepmother. A sinking feeling developed in the pit of Olette's stomach as a pang of guilt coursed through her veins. The sudden guilt puzzled the poor girl; after all, it's not like Roxas' disappearance had been her fault or anything. But the guilt was telling her otherwise, and that she had no reason or excuse at all to play confused. She hung her head for a moment as she riffled through some of her options in her head. Finally deciding that she had to do something about the situation, Olette glanced back up at Larxene with determination taking over her expression and stating,

"I'll go find him!"

The brunette girl twirled around and took off running out the door before any of the others had a chance to speak up.

° ˚ • ◊ • ˚ °

She thought long and hard on the many locations Roxas could have been hiding himself. And that was the major problem. Though not incredibly populated, Twilight Town wasn't exactly the smallest town around. With a plethora of locations to choose from, Olette's search could have taken hours before finding the boy. Yet there was one place nagging Olette at the back of her mind. She herself wasn't too sure why it was this place, but she decided to go with her gut. There were multiple other places to look that made more sense to explore or sounded more practical to search, but the nagging feeling refused to let her go anywhere else until she checked out that one particular place. Besides, if there was anything Olette learned from Aerith, it was that woman's intuition never failed.

Even then, Olette couldn't help feel she was the only exception from the law. Knowing her luck, anyway.

After a quiet and nerve-racking trip, Olette stepped off the train and onto the sandy shores of the beach. The girl's emerald colored eyes glided over the waves that crashed over the beach's shoreline as she listened to its thundering sound. The smell of sea salt was thick in the air, along with some humidity. Surprisingly, the beach wasn't busy at all. It was the weekend, so Olette expected to be met with a huge mob of people. Yet, there were no people. She began to lose hope when she saw this. No people, meaning no possible chance of finding Roxas. Still, woman's intuition was telling her to keep searching the shore. Sighing in aggravation, Olette moved forward and continued her search.

She wished she had only come to sightsee.

The girl trudged through the sand, looking every which way for any sign of the blond spiky-haired boy. With no sign of him showing up, Olette was beginning to grow doubts about her woman's intuition. Maybe hers was just defective. After several minutes of pointless searching, Olette was about to give up all hope of every finding the blond boy (never to put trust into her woman's intuition again) until a large boulder by the edge of the shoreline came into view. Figuring, _Hey, why not?_ she headed for that boulder. Once directly in front of the boulder, Olette peeked quietly around the rock to get a good look behind it just to make sure if Roxas was there or not. The first thing she was met with was the sight of blond spiky hair.

"Nohart?" Olette exclaimed in surprise, causing the boy sitting in the sand to quickly look up at her in equal shock.

"What are you doing here?" he demanded, his voice still filled with surprise.

"We're looking for you," she informed, making sure her tone sounded strict, as she came out from behind the rock and took a seat next to the boy. "Want to explain exactly why you ran away?"

"I didn't run away," Roxas muttered childishly as he stuck his nose in the salty air, pouting. "I was just taking a walk."

"To the beach?" Olette raised an eyebrow in skepticism. "That's a pretty long walk."

Roxas quickly glanced away from her, hoping she would stop trying to pry. The fewer questions she asked, the better. Olette continued studying the boy, noticing he had become uncomfortable when she took a seat next to him. The girl hardly blamed him, considering the fight they had just the previous night before. She slowly gazed away from him when the situation suddenly became too awkward, silence taking over the two. Neither one of them attempted to exchange words with each other as the awkward silence ensued, minus the sound of the crashing waves. She cast him a side-glance after several moments of waiting for him to say something, yet hearing nothing come out of his mouth. Roxas still had his head turned away from her, but this gave Olette a better view of the cheek she had slapped. It was still red even though she had slapped him yesterday. Though, it did seem the swelling went down at least. Despite this, the guilt returned to the pit of her stomach, and she bit down remorsefully on her bottom lip.

"I…" Her voice trailed off when she was unable to spit the words out. Olette quickly glanced away when the sound of her faltering voice finally earned her Roxas' curious attention. Swallowing down the lump that returned to the back of her throat, Olette croaked, "Sorry. About slapping you, I mean." Upon apologizing, Olette hung her head, using her bangs to hide her face from the boy. "Guess I kind of… overreacted?"

Roxas tore his gaze away from the brunette and stared up momentarily at the lingering clouds in the sky. Exhaling loudly, he leaned back on the rock and avoided the girl's gaze. "It's fine," he said, barely audible to Olette. "I guess I deserved it. I was a jerk, after all." He glanced down at her out of the corner of his eye, now flashing her his usual confident smirk. "I was only hurt a little."

Even if it had been a joke, admitting this increased the guilt Olette was suffering from, which caused her to hang her head once more. The only way to get rid of it seemed to be apologizing until she ran out of breath. "I really am sorry, though. I shouldn't have hit you."

Roxas turned his eyes up towards the sky once more, feeling slightly guilty himself. After a short pause, he said, "I shouldn't have made you cry."

"That was…" Olette stammered, her head whipping up in surprise to gape at the blond. She wrung her hands together as her face flushed a light pink, reluctant to think about the exact reason why she had broke out into tears yesterday. "I was just…" Any lie would have worked, as long as it made the boy sitting next to her feel a little better and put her own confused mind at ease. However, her tongue decided to fail her at that moment, and no lie spewed out of her mouth. Instead she lowered her head once more and whispered, "It's okay."

Silence fell over the two awkward teenagers once more, Olette's head hung in order to hide her flushed face and Roxas' gaze averted so as to avoid uncomfortable eye contact. Olette had been hoping to cheer Roxas up when she found him. Instead, the situation seemed to grow worse the more the two kept talking. At least the two cleared the mess from the previous night up. All that was left was to return Roxas home and hand him back over to her mother, restoring peace in the brunette girl's home once more and giving her the break she was certain she deserved. Just as Olette was about to suggest the two return home, she looked up only to suddenly lock eyes with the boy. He had finally torn his stare away from the sky to glance back down at her, his expression suddenly deadpan, and Olette felt the heat return to her face.

"Do you still want that kiss?" Roxas asked, barely above a whisper, already leaning in before receiving an answer. He dug his hand into the sand near Olette, doing so to keep balance as he inched closer.

Olette's mind came to a sudden halt as she froze up, unable to move from the spot she was sitting in. Her heartbeat increased its rate inside her chest, thumping loudly against her ribcage. She could feel her face grow hotter as the question reverberated back and forth inside her head: Do you still want that kiss? That was a good question, considering the brunette was completely unsure herself. Any other time, she would have immediately gagged and denied any sort of desire. This time, however, she found herself slightly reluctant to refuse. There was something in Roxas' eyes that made it incredibly difficult to say no. He stopped midway in his leaning, leaving several centimeters between him and the girl, almost like he was waiting for her to decide. Slowly, her eyes trailed away from his blue irises down to his lips as she tried convincing herself that refusing was her best choice. However, her refusal had lodged itself in the back of her throat, making it practically impossible to splutter out a simple turndown.

"I…" She faltered once more. Roxas began moving forward again, the distance between them shrinking. What she wanted to do was push him away, maybe even snap at him for being an idiot. But her body had completely frozen and her mind shut down, making it difficult for her to function. So instead, Olette squeezed her eyes shut and waited apprehensively for his lips to make contact with her own, her heartbeat drumming loudly in her ears.

"Roxas! Where are you?" a voice cut through the air suddenly, switching Olette's mind back on. She squeaked and jumped back at the sound of the voice, falling flat on her back in the sand.

Roxas had also winced back before anything happened, looking around wildly for the source of the familiar voice. Olette's eyes fluttered back open, and she stared tiredly up at the azure sky. Her expression turned irritated, but the color refused to leave her face. The girl remained splayed out across the sand, glaring up at the sky like it was its fault as Roxas sprang awkwardly to his feet. He didn't even offer Olette any help up as he poked his head out from behind the rock, only to see Aerith and Larxene searching the beach for any sign of him. His blonde mother's dull eyes scanned the shore of the beach before landing on the boulder farther out, narrowing to slits at the sight of the boy.

"Roxas Nohart!" Larxene snapped, stomping her way towards the two teens. "You are in big trouble, young man!"

"Oh! There he is!" Aerith chimed when Larxene's booming voice earned her attention. "And here I thought he wasn't at the beach. Silly me!"

"Crap!" Roxas breathed, spinning on one heel in an attempt to make a run for it. The last thing he wanted to deal with was his mother's wrath. Unfortunately, when he turned to make a quick getaway, he accidentally tripped over Olette's leg. The blond boy went tumbling to the sand, landing in it face first. By the time he looked back up, spitting out a mouthful of sand, Larxene was already looming over him with her hands perched on her hips. The expression on her face could only be described as dark and icy, enough to kill a man with one glance.

"You've got a lot of nerve, running away before I came to pick you up!" Larxene hissed as she grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and hoisted him up. Roxas let out a noise that sounded like a hybrid of a choke and a yelp. He stumbled over his feet for a moment before Larxene began dragging him away. Olette finally sat up and shook her head, glancing back at the two as the mother dragged her son through the sand. "You've caused them a lot of trouble! And you had me worried sick, Roxas!"

"Oh, like you care!" Roxas snapped as he tried to wriggle free from Larxene's grasp. But she had a tight hold on his shirt.

"Of course I do!" Larxene snapped, glaring down at him. "I'm your mother for crying out loud! You might find it hard to believe, but I _do_ love you, and I _do_ worry about you! That doesn't mean you're not a pain in my ass, though!"

"I'm so touched," Olette heard Roxas grumble as the two stomped past a smiling Aerith.

"You're in a lot of trouble when we get home!" Larxene continued shouting as the two blondes continued their way down the shore.

Olette slowly got up to her feet, waiting for her heart to return to its normal beating pace. She trudged over to Aerith's side, the two now trailing after Roxas and Larxene. The girl kept her eyes on her shoes, trying to push what had happened to the back of her mind. A part of her felt disappointed; another part of her felt extremely relieved. What had happened, she brushed it off as another one of Roxas' teasing pranks. After all, why would he even fathom the idea of kissing her? It wasn't like he actually considered it, considering the fact both of them couldn't stand each other. She herself hadn't considered it, not in the least bit. That's what she told herself anyway, hoping to be convinced.

Aerith smiled to herself as she glanced down at her brunette stepdaughter out of the corner of her eye. The disappointed aura radiating from Olette was obvious, especially to her stepmother. "Are you going to miss Roxas when he leaves the house?" she giggled, earning Olette's sudden attention.

"No!" the girl immediately denied as she whipped her head up to gawk at the brunette woman. "Of course not! I'm glad he's finally leaving."

Aerith giggled again, however. Her innocent smile turned mischievous, the smirk directed down at Olette. "What were you doing with Roxas behind that boulder back there?"

Olette quickly turned away, ignoring the color that rushed to her face at the mention of the question. Quickening her pace so as to get ahead of the woman and hopefully leave her behind, Olette stuttered, "N-Nothing!"

She murmured to herself as she glared up ahead at Roxas, who was now acting like she didn't exist. He was much too busy still arguing with his own mother to pay her any attention. Shaking her head, Olette sighed and continued walking with her eyes rolled up to the sky. Just another one of his pranks. There was no other explanation. She was absolutely convinced that it was nothing more than a prank. The comforting thought allowed her to smile discreetly to herself, calming down the wild thumping inside her chest.

_It was nothing,_ she sang inwardly, oddly relaxed by her reasoning. At least it wasn't as perplexing as many of the other explanations she could have chosen from. _Absolutely nothing._


End file.
